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LELAND   STANFORD   JUNIOR  UNIVERSITY    PUBLICATIONS 
UNIVERSITY    SERIES 


The  Neo-Classic  Movement 

IN  Spain  During  the 

Xviii  Century 


BY 

ROBERT   E.   PELLISSIER 


STANFORD  UNIVERSITY,  CALIFORNIA 

PUBLISHED   BY   THE   UNIVERSITY 

1918 


STANFORD    UNIVERSITY 
PRESS 


FOREWORD. 

Among  the  magnanimous  young  Frenchmen  who,  at  the  first  news 
of  their  country's  peril,  hastened  to  her  aid,  was  Robert  Edouard 
Pellissier.  Although  all  his  mature  years  had  been  spent  in  America, 
and  although  he  held  an  honorable  and  secure  position  on  the  far  Pacific 
coast,  he  unhesitatingly  made  the  great  sacrifice,  and,  after  two  years  of 
service,  met  a  soldier's  death  on  the  Somme.  The  ship  that  bore  him 
across  the  ocean  carried  five  hundred  compatriots  of  humble  station, 
waiters  and  cooks  who  had  made  their  home  in  New  York.  His  first 
winter  was  passed  in  the  Vosges,  where,  in  the  intense  cold,  hundreds  of 
his  companions  were  disabled  by  frozen  feet.  The  military  casualties,  too, 
were  severe.  In  that  season  his  battalion  lost  twice  as  many  men  as  it 
had  originally  contained.  Being  finally  wounded  himself,  he  was  allowed, 
on  leaving  the  hospital,  to  follow  a  course  of  instruction  that  prepared 
him  to  become  an  officer.  It  was  just  after  the  completion  of  those  studies 
that  I  saw  him,  in  Paris,  for  the  last  time,  in  January,  1916.  Radiant 
with  health  and  cheerful  courage,  far  stronger  than  I  had  ever  seen  him 
before,  he  was  quite  satisfied  with  the  new  mode  of  life  which  at  first  had 
seemed  so  strange.  The  trenches,  he  declared,  were  very  comfortable, 
the  food  was  excellent,  and  every  care  was  taken  of  the  men. 

I  had  known  Pellissier  for  many  years.  Primarily  bent  on  the 
physician's  career,  he  entered  the  Harvard  Scientific  School,  where  he 
graduated  in  1904.  Persistent  ill  health,  however,  obliged  him  to  relin- 
quish his  first  intent,  and  he  turned  to  literary  and  philological  study. 
Other  members  of  his  family  had  devoted  themselves  to  letters :  he  was 
a  cousin  of  Georges  Pellissier,  the  eminent  critic,  and  a  brother  of  Pro- 
fessor Adeline  Pellissier  of  Smith  College.  The  years  1908-09  and 
1910-11  were  spent  in  our  Graduate  School,  and  he  received  the  Doctor's 
degree  here  in  1913.  Meanwhile  he  had  achieved  success  as  a  teacher. 
Harvard  had  for  a  while  the  benefit  of  his  collaboration,  but  most  of  his 
work  was  done  at  Stanford  University,  where  he  soon  obtained  a  con- 
genial post  which  enabled  him  to  combine  study  and  instruction.  At  the 
time  of  his  departure  he  had  reached  the  grade  of  Assistant  Professor. 
Quiet,  modest,  serious,  thoughtful,  conscientious,  gifted  with  rare  peda- 
gogical skill,  he  won  the  respect  of  all  he  met  and  the  aflPection  of  all  who 
knew  him.  The  present  volume,  composed  during  his  busy  years  of 
teaching  at  Stanford,  shows  the  systematic  thoroughness,  the  clearness 
and  breadth  of  view  that  marked  his  scholarship.     May  it  help  to  keep 


4  THE    NEO-CLASSIC    MOVEMENT    IN    SPAIN 

green  the  memory  of  one  who  gladly  surrendered  to  a  righteous  cause  a 
life  full  of  promise  and  already  rich  in  service ! 

C.  H.  Grandgent 

Cambridge,  Mass. 
March,  1917 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

I  wish  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  Professor  J.  D.  M.  Ford 
of  Harvard  University,  to  Professor  A.  L.  Guerard  and  to  Professor  C. 
G.  Allen,  both  of  the  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University,  who  had  the 
kindness  to  read  portions  of  this  study  before  it  was  typewritten. 
Thanks  to  the  advice  given  me  by  these  gentlemen,  the  errors  in  the  lan- 
guage and  in  the  subject  matter  of  this  volume  were  made  less  numerous. 

The  subject  of  this  study  was  suggested  to  me  by  Professor  Irving 
Babbitt's  course  on  literary  criticism  since  the  Renaissance  and  by  Pro- 
fessor Ford's  lectures  on  the  history  of  Spanish  literature. 

Robert  E.  Pellissier 
Stanford  University,  California 
January  26,  1913 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Foreword   3 

Acknowledgment    5 

Contents    7 

Introduction  9 

Chapter  I.     The  Dawn  of  the  RationaHstic  Spirit 13 

Chapter  II.  The  Reintrodiiction  of  the  Aristotelian  Rules  of  Crit- 
icism in  Spain  Through  Luzan's  Poetica 23 

Chapter  III.  El  Diario  de  los  Literatos :  A  purely  Spanish  mani- 
festation of  the  new  spirit  in  literary  criticism 49 

Chapter  IV.  An  Organized  Group  of  Neo-Classicists.  The  Acad- 
emy "Del  Buen  Gusto." 61 

Chapter  V.     The  Spread  of  the  Neo-Classic  Doctrines  Among  the 

Middle  Class 95 

Chapter  VI.  Leandro  Fernandez  de  Moratin.  His  contribution  to 
the  Neo-Classic  movement.  His  struggle  with  the  illiterate 
classes 117 

Chapter  VII.     Acute   Stages   in   the   Neo-Classic   Controversy   at 

Home  and  Abroad  133 

Chapter  VIII.     The   Last   Stages  of  the   Neo-Classic   Movement. 

Jovellanos  and  Samaniego  155 

Conclusion    173 

Bibliography  185 


INTRODUCTION. 

Neo-classicism  never  obtained  so  firm  a  grip  on  Spanish  thought  as 
it  did  on  that  of  France  or  Italy.  We  must  not  conclude  from  this  that 
Aristotelian  theorists  in  Spain  were  less  capable  men  than  their  brothers 
in  the  neighboring  countries.  Quite  to  the  contrary,  the  scholars  who 
expounded  "the  Rules"  in  Spain  gave  clear  proofs  of  possessing  great 
critical  independence.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  because  of  their  intel- 
lectual superiority,  that  neo-classicism  met  with  such  scant  success  in  the 
peninsula.  The  Spanish  exponents  of  Aristotle  were  unwilHng  to  shut 
their  eyes  to  the  defects  of  the  system  and  never  supported  it  more  than 
half-heartedly.  Their  attitude  was  on  the  whole  more  dignified  and  more 
intelligent  than  that  of  the  critics  belonging  to  either  the  Italian  or  the 
French  school. 

This  independence  of  judgment  appeared  in  the  very  first  document 
of  the  movement,  which  is  Torres  Naharro's  prologue  to  the  "Propaladia." 
It  was  written  in  15 17  and  published  in  1547.  It  was  composed  therefore 
a  few  years  only  after  the  publication  of  the  Greek  text  of  Aristotle's 
Poetics  by  the  Aldine  press  and  it  was  given  to  the  public  before  Rob- 
ortello's  commentary. 

The  prologue  to  the  "Propaladia,"  while  it  is  not  an  extensive  treat- 
ment of  neo-classicism,  contains  all  of  its  commonplaces.  It  defines 
tragedy  and  comedy,  it  calls  for  five  acts  in  all  dramatic  productions  and 
it  insists  on  verisimilitude  in  all  its  applications. 

The  author,  after  outlining  the  rules,  shows  that  he  has  no  fanatical 
desire  to  impose  them  on  any  one,  for  he  ends  by  stating  that  intelligent 
writers  who  differ  from  his  opinions  always  have  the  right  "to  take  away 
or  to  add." 

Juan  de  la  Cueva,  an  admirer  of  Plorace,  is  also  a  great  name  in  the 
history  of  neo-classicism  in  Spain,  but  his  attitude  towards  the  movement 
was  on  the  whole  that  of  an  antagonist.  He  is  more  revolutionary  by  far 
than  Naharro.  He  does  object  to  the  mingling  of  the  tragic  and  the  comic 
and  he  warns  writers  against  the  use  of  quibbles.  Yet  he  feels  that  the 
rules  were  evolved  from  conditions  which  existed  in  the  past  and  which 
have  but  little  connection  with  those  of  the  present.  He  would  do  away 
for  instance  with  the  unity  of  place.  His  aim  in  writing  on  the  subject 
of  dramatic  criticism  is  to  indicate  the  rules  which,  from  his  observation, 
seem  to  govern  the  composition  of  the  Comedia. 

The  great  expounders  of  neo-classicism  in  Spain,  the  men  who  cor- 


10  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT   IN  SPAIN 

respond  to  Castelvetro,  Minturno  and  Robortello  in  Italy,  are  Pinciano, 
Cascales,  and  Gonzales  de  Salas. 

The  great  critical  work  of  the  first  of  these,  "La  Philosophia  An- 
tigua," is  such  a  liberal  interpretation  of  Aristotle's  Poetics  that  Menendez 
y  Pelayo  says  of  it  that,  even  in  our  own  days,  it  can  be  read  not  only  with 
profit  but  with  pleasure. 

The  so-called  "Tablas  Poeticas"  of  Cascales  are  less  liberal  in  their 
treatment  of  the  neo-classic  principles,  yet  in  them  the  author  refuses  to 
admit  that  poetry  can  be  the  vehicle  of  purely  didactic  subjects.  This 
opinion  is  a  grave  departure  from  neo-classic  orthodoxy. 

As  for  the  work  of  Gonzales  de  Salas  entitled  "Nueva  Idea  de  la 
Tragedia"  the  following  lines  quoted  by  Menendez  y  Pelayo  show  how 
far  that  author  was  from  slavishly  following  the  Italian  school  of  criti- 
cism :  "Comedias  tenemos  hoy  de  los  Griegos  y  de  los  Latinos  .  .  .  que 
si  se  presentaran  hoy  en  nuestros  theatres  .  .  .  de  ninguna  manera  nos 
deleitaran  .  .  .  Que  serviran,  pues,  aquellos  preceptos  para  la  estructura 
de  nuestras  fabulas?  Mucho  sin  duda  pero  no  lo  que  enteramente  es 
necesario." 

Through  the  works  which  we  have  enumerated,  the  rules  received 
probably  as  much  publicity  in  Spain  as  they  had  in  either  France  or  Italy. 
The  conditions  which  they  encountered  in  Spain  were  radically  different 
from  those  existing  in  the  other  two  Latin  countries. 

Instead  of  being  dogmatically  imposed  on  dramatic  authors  who 
were  groping  their  way  to  success,  they  were  introduced  with  marked 
half-heartedness  in  a  country  where  an  entirely  different  dramatic  system 
had  proved  amply  its  ability  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  the  nation. 

There  could  be  but  one  result.  Many  writers  paid  no  attention  to 
the  "Rules."  Authors  gifted  with  a  philosophical  turn  of  mind  were 
interested  in  them  from  a  purely  academic  standpoint.  They  admitted 
what  often  seemed  their  faultless  logic.  They  did  not  attempt  to  apply 
them  since  it  was  clear  that  their  spirit  was  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
esthetic  tendencies  of  the  modern  period. 

It  was  this  struggle  between  the  intellect  and  the  esthetic  intuition 
which  made  possible  such  a  poem  as  Lope's  "Arte  Nuevo  de  Hacer 
Comedias"  and  which  brought  out  from  the  pen  of  Cervantes  so  many 
statements  indicating  deep  respect  for  the  rules  of  Aristotle. 

In  several  instances  each  one  of  these  authors  admitted  that  his  actual 
performance  was  in  contradiction  with  what  seemed  to  be  the  dictates  of 
reason.  ,    of/ii?^ 

Lope  finally  solved  the  difficulty  by  exclaiming,  perhaps  a  little  cal- 
lously, that  a  poet's  first  duty  was  to  please  the  public  irrespective  of  the 


INTRODUCTION  11 

quality  of  the  latter's  taste.  Cervantes  did  not  solve  his  problem  with  as 
much  ease.  He  seems  to  have  remained  for  a  long  time  in  a  state  of  self- 
contradiction.  Though  he  wrote  no  regular  plays  at  any  time  during  his 
career,  he  certainly  at  first  favored  the  rules.  Later,  without  actually 
condemning  them,  he  strove  to  compete  with  Lope  in  the  field  of  the 
irregular  drama. 

Other  writers  like  Barreda  and  Tirso  de  Molina  met  the  situation 
in  a  much  more  able  way.  They  anticipated  the  arguments  of  the 
Romantic  School,  opposing  valid  and  well  thought  out  reasons  to  the 
neo-classic  dogma. 

The  result  of  hesitancy  and  contradiction,  on  the  one  hand,  added  to 
able  argumentation  on  the  other,  was  the  complete  victory  of  the  party 
of  artistic  freedom  over  that  of  neo-classicism. 

It  is  not  for  us  to  repeat  here  how  in  course  of  time  artistic  freedom 
degenerated  into  artistic  lawlessness  which  finally  lapsed  into  exhaustion 
and  sterility. 

In  France,  after  the  great  artistic  impulse  of  the  seventeenth  century 
had  spent  itself,  rationalism,  of  which  neo-classicism  is  merely  a  form, 
lent  a  new  vigor  to  the  productions  of  literary  men. 

In  Spain,  thought  seems  to  have  died  with  art  and,  as  a  result,  at 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Spanish  letters  reached  a  point  of  un- 
precedented debasement. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  patriotic  Spaniards  who  deplored  the 
state  of  intellectual  stagnation,  evidences  of  which  were  patent  all  about 
them,  resolved  to  start  a  fight  against  such  a  state  of  affairs. 

Outside  of  Spain,  rationalism  was  everywhere  quickening  European 
thought.  These  self-appointed  leaders  of  a  Spanish  intellectual  awaken- 
ing determined  upon  introducing  into  Spain  the  methods  of  thought 
which  were  making  the  neighboring  countries  great. 

Neo-classicism  with  its  many  simple  and  even  obvious  arguments  was 
a  tempting  form  of  rationalism  to  men  living  in  a  period  as  unartistic  as 
it  was  irrational.  This  is  why,  first  by  individual  endeavor  and  later 
through  the  concerted  efforts  of  little  groups,  this  intellectual  elite  pro- 
ceeded to  reintroduce  neo-classicism  into  Spain. 

The  method  of  this  reintroduction,  the  ensuing  spread  of  the  rules  of 
Aristotle,  their  influence  on  Spanish  literature  and  their  ultimate  influence 
on  Spanish  thought  are  the  points  which  form  the  subject  matter  of  this 
study. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Dawn  of  the  Rationalistic  Spirit 

To  study  the  rise  of  neo-classic  theories  and  of  the  iieo-classic  stage 
in  Spain,  one  is  naturally  led  to  look  to  the  life  at  the  court  of  Philip  V 
for  the  first  signs  of  a  movement  which  was  to  influence  deeply  the  whole 
field  of  Spanish  literature.  That  the  court  of  the  grandson  of  Louis  XIV 
should  have  had  an  immediate  and  wide-reaching  influence  in  literary 
matters,  as  it  did  in  governmental  and  administrative  afifairs,  seems  a 
reasonable  expectation. 

The  Court  of  Philip  V. — As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  gloom  of  the  first 
years  of  the  reign,  the  morose  character  of  the  King  and  the  open  hos- 
tility of  Spanish  courtiers  to  any  innovation  which  might  interfere  with 
the  old  Spanish  traditions  made  the  influence  of  the  court  practically 
negligible  as  a  factor  in  the  history  of  neo-classicism  in  Spain. ^ 

The  King's  only  passion  was  the  chase  ^  and  the  courtiers  wanted 
nothing  so  much  as  a  continuation  of  the  mournful  life  which  had  been 
the  lot  of  Spanish  courts  under  the  Austrian  rule.  The  memoirs  of  the 
time  show  how  few  were  the  forms  of  amusement  at  the  court  of 
Philip  V  and  how  seldom  these  amusements  took  a  literary  form. 

Dangers  of  all  kinds  assailed  the  new  monarchy  from  the  very  start ; 
for  a  decade  from  the  time  of  its  installation  it  never  was  established 
safely  enough  to  be  able  to  think  about  the  lighter  side  of  life. 

Philip  V  on  his  arrival  at  Madrid  instituted  various  reforms  which 
did  away  with  some  of  the  few  forms  of  diversions  inherited  from 
Charles  II.  The  Memoires  of  Noailles  tell  us  that,  with  the  Spanish 
cooks,  the  King  dismissed  the  court  dwarfs  who  are  styled  by  the  author 
"une  vermine  de  la  cour  dont  le  roi  etait  toujours  accompagne,  selon  I'eti- 
quette."  These  dwarfs  who  were  intended  to  act  as  court  fools  had 
become  so  impudent  that  one  of  them  dared  to  make  fun  of  Philip  who 
had  taken  off  his  hat  to  a  duchess,  remarking  that  the  ruler  of  Spain 
was  not  to  bare  his  head  for  any  one.  .  .  .  ^  This  occurred  in  1701 ;  the 
year  before  the  King  had  refused  to  be  present  at  an  auto  da  fe  prepared 
especially  for  his  coronation.* 


1  Tremoilles.     Princess  des  Ursins  a  Torcy,  Jan.  6,  1702. 

2  Noailles,  v.  I,  p.  328.  and  Hippeau,  v.  I,  p.  clxxxi ;  letter  from  Louis  XIV 
to  Marsin.     Tesse,  Memoires,  v.  II,  p.  155. 

3  Noailles,  v.  I,  pp.  328  and  352. 
*  Noailles,  v.  I,  p.  332. 


14  THE    NEO-CLASSIC    MOVEMENT    IN    SPAIN 

The  attitude  of  Philip  in  these  matters  did  not  please  the  Spanish 
courtiers  and  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  that,  in  return,  they  looked 
askance  at  the  balls  which  the  Princess  des  Ursins  tried  to  introduce  at 
court  for  the  amusement  of  the  young  queen.  Marie  Louise  of  Savoy 
was  of  a  light  and  playful  disposition.  She  had  been  brought  up  at  the 
court  of  Piedmont,  that  is  among  purely  French  influences,  and  she  would 
certainly  have  played  an  important  part  socially  in  a  court  offering  any 
opportunities  of  the  kind.  The  Marshal  de  Tesse  says  of  her :  "L'esprit 
de  la  Reine  et  peut-etre  son  coeur  seraient  naturellement  portes  au  plaisir 
et  a  faire  vivre  sa  cour  avec  la  communication  que  les  femmes  ont  en 
France  avec  le  monde  et  comme  cette  princesse  I'a  vu  en  Piemont." ' 
Because  of  the  hostility  of  the  grandees  and  of  the  indifference  of  the 
King  to  social  matters  and  also  because  she  entered  most  heartily  into  all 
the  problems  which  her  husband  had  to  face,  the  little  queen  completely 
sacrificed  her  pleasure-loving  nature  to  her  duties.  While  the  King  was 
in  Italy  commanding  his  armies,  it  was  Marie  Louise,  then  only  eighteen 
years  old,  who  carried  on  the  affairs  of  the  state.  She  would  spend  six 
hours  a  day  with  the  Council  transacting  business,  she  offered  public  audi- 
ences and  her  time  was  so  completely  taken  up  with  the  affairs  of  the 
realm  that,  to  use  her  own  words,  she  "scarcely  had  time  to  play  at  blind- 
man's  buff  in  the  evenings  with  her  ladies."  °  *  Mme.  des  Ursins  writing  to 
Torcy  says :  "II  n'y  a  guere  de  jour  que  la  reine  ne  passe  dans  ses  conseils 
cinq  ou  six  heures,  le  reste  se  passe  tout  a  des  audiences  ennuyeuses  et  a 
visiter  des  eglises  ou  des  convents:  en  un  mot  je  n'ai  jamais  vu  une  vie 
qui  convienne  si  peu  a  une  jeune  princesse  gaie  naturellement."  ^ 

This  gloomy  life  continued  after  the  return  of  the  King  from  Italy, 
for,  in  the  words  of  Tesse,  the  King  was  as  opposed  to  social  life  as  the 
Spanish  courtiers  themselves ;  he  was  even  less  communicative  than  they. 
If  the  "etiquette"  had  not  already  existed,  he  would  have  organized  it 
himself.* 

After  the  victory  of  Villaviciosa  a  noticeable  change  came  over  the 
court  and  the  courtiers.  The  French,  who  had  been  regarded  more  or  less 
as  interlopers,  had  really  fought  for  Spain ;  Vendome  had  given  the  Span- 
iards an  opportunity  to  show  their  devotion  to  their  country,  success  had 
crowned  the  united  efforts  of  the  soldiers  of  the  two  nations  and  much 
of  the  mutual  suspicion  which  had  existed  until  then  died  out  in  1710. 


^  Tesse,  v.  II,  p.  155. 

8  Letter  of  Marie  Louise  of  Savoy  to  Louis  XIV,  July  27,  1702.     Collection 
de  lettres  de  la  Princesse  des  Ursins,  par  Louis  de  la  Tremoille,  y.  II. 
T  Same,  v.  II,  P.  des  U.  to  Torcy,  Sept.  6,  1702. 

*  Tesse,  v.  II,  p.  155. 

*  The  stars  refer  to  notes  at  the  end  of  the  chapters. 


THE   DAWN    OF   THE   RATIONALISTIC    SPIRIT  15 

For  the  first  time  since  1700  the  King  felt  secure  on  his  throne  and  the 
Spaniards  at  court  looked  with  something  like  friendliness  on  French 
manners  and  customs.  Soon  after  1711  mentions  of  festivities  and  plays 
at  court  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  letters  and  memoirs  of  the 
time.^  The  Chevalier  du  Bourck  in  a  letter  to  Torcy  tells  us  that  in  Jan- 
uary 1712  comedies  were  being  performed  at  the  royal  palace,  adding 
however  "il  faut  avouer  que  les  divertissements  de  cette  cour  sont  minces 
et  peu  proportionnes  a  I'age  d'un  prince  ne  a  Versailles  et  d'une  princesse 
nee  a  Turin,  mais  Mme.  des  Ursins  se  propose  d'egayer  un  peu  la  cour 
dans  le  temps  de  la  paix."  '" 

That  the  "camarera  mayor"  did  not  immediately  succeed  in  turning 
gloom  into  joy  is  indicated  by  another  letter  of  Du  Bourck  to  Torcy  dated 
February  1712.  "La  cour  prend  les  divertissements  que  ce  pays  fournit 
pendant  le  carnaval,  ces  divertissements  consistent  a  passer  trois  ou  quatre 
heures  a  entendre  une  comedie  espagnole  tres  ennuyeuse  et  representee 
par  des  acteurs  et  actrices  de  triste  figure."  ^^  Fortunately  the  French 
ambassador  to  the  Spanish  court  was  a  man  full  of  resources  and,  in  that 
same  letter  by  Du  Bourck,  we  find  that  Monsieur  de  Bonnac  and  other 
distinguished  persons  were  rehearsing  a  play  of  Corneille,  that  a  first 
performance  had  given  great  satisfaction.^^ 

Such  innovations  could  not  be  pleasing  to  Spaniards,  but  their  atti- 
tude had  changed  and  what  would  once  have  caused  an  outburst  of  in- 
dignation merely  produced  discontent  among  some  and  was  cordially 
received  by  a  few.  Already  in  1713  the  Marquis  de  Villena  was  openly 
favoring  French  performances,  and  that  very  year  his  influence  brought 
about  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Academy,  an  institution  distinctly 
French  in  its  character.  A  letter  from  Madame  des  Ursins  to  Torcy, 
dated  February  1713,  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  way  the  marquis  judged 
the  new  plays :  "Nous  avons  tous  les  soirs  des  comedies  espagnoles 
et  fran^aises:  les  dernieres  sont  fort  joliement  representees  par  des 
domestiques  du  roi  d'Espagne.  Les  autres  n'ont  ni  regies  ni  decence  au 
moins  dans  la  plus  part :  on  y  fait  parler  les  femmes  aux  hommes  avec 
une  liberte  qui  ne  convient  a  aucune  et  Monsieur  le  Marquis  de  Villena, 
qui  est  homme  de  belles  lettres,  est  de  notre  sentiment  pretendant  qu'il  n'y 
a  ni  rime  ni  raison  et  que  Calderon  et  Solis  'no  tenian  nada  que  ver'  avec 
Corneille  et  Racine.  Cela  ne  laisse  pas  d'amuser  deux  ou  trois  heures  les 
soirs."  * 


"Tremoille,  v.  IV,  P.  des  U.  a  Torcy,  Feb.  11,  1711. 
10  Tremoille,  v.  V,  p.  3.     Du  Bourck  a  Torcy,  Jan.  18,  1712. 
"  Tremoille,  v.  V.     Du  Bourck  a  Torcy,  Feb.  1,  1712. 

1"  Combes,  La  Princesse  des  Ursins,  ch.  xxxvi,  quotation  from  letter  by  Du 
Bourck. 


16  THE   NEO-CLASSIC    MOVEMENT   IN    SPAIN 

From  these  quotations  it  is  clear  that  ever  since  the  battle  of  Villa- 
viciosa  the  court  had  tended  more  and  more  to  become  an  active  social 
and  literary  center.  Had  conditions  remained  favorable,  the  court  might 
have  won  an  undisputed  title  as  a  Gallicizing  force  in  Spain,  and  the 
French  influences  which  had  already  made  such  marked  progress  in 
matters  of  administration  might  have  influenced  literature  at  a  much 
earlier  date  and  more  deeply  than  it  actually  did.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  generous  and  vivacious  queen  died  in  1714  and  Philip  V  fell  again 
into  his  morose  attitude,  giving  full  sway  to  his  passion  for  the  chase  and 
for  solitude.  One  of  the  reasons  that  made  him  look  with  particular 
favor  on  Elizabeth  Farnese  as  a  successor  to  his  late  wife  was  the  fact 
that  the  Princess  of  Parma  was  accustomed  to  living  in  a  court  where 
diversions  were  not  great.  For  that  reason,  Philip  felt  that  she  would  be 
eminently  adapted  to  a  court  "ou  les  reines  ont  mene  une  vie  plus  retiree 
que  toutes  les  autres."  ^^ 

Elizabeth  upon  becoming  queen  did  not  disappoint  the  expectations 
of  the  king.  Seeing  that  the  best  way  to  obtain  full  control  over  the  mon- 
arch was  to  keep  him  entirely  to  herself,  she  proceeded  to  turn  her  hus- 
band into  a  recluse.^*  The  Princess  des  Ursins  was  sent  back  to  France 
and  with  her  a  good  part  of  the  French  influences  left  Madrid,  while  the 
king  yielded  absolutely  to  what  Tesse  called  "son  eternel  desir  de  ne 
voir  personne."  *  There  no  longer  was  any  call  for  plays  at  the  court, 
Italian  music  and  Farinelli  supplied  its  small  needs  for  entertainments.* 
The  royal  palaces  fell  into  the  gloomy,  brooding  condition  which  St. 
Simon  has  described,  a  condition  worthy  of  the  days  of  the  Hapsburg 
dynasty.  If  the  court  had  done  but  little  before  to  spread  the  French 
ideas  on  art  and  philosophy  it  now  became  neutral  in  its  reaction  on  the 
intellectual  life  of  Spain  or,  if  it  had  any  reaction  at  all,  it  was  more 
Italian  than  French.  This  condition  lasted  from  the  moment  the  Princess 
des  Ursins  was  exiled  until  the  death  of  Philip  in  1746.  That  the  intro- 
duction and  diffusion  of  French  ideas  was  not  dependent  on  the  govern- 
ment or  on  the  court  is  clearly  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  was  far  from 
Madrid  that  the  first  distinctly  Gallicized  work  was  written  and  that  it 
was  written  during  that  period  of  courtly  inactivity  which  we  have  just 
described.* 

Feijoo.  The  Iniiltration  of  French  Ideas. — Feijoo  published  the  first 
volume  of  his  "Teatro  Critico"  in  1726.  This  work  was  the  result  of  the 
thought  and  the  reading  of  a  recluse  whose  entire  life  had  been  spent  in 

13  Tremoille,  v.  V,  Philip  V  to  Louis  XIV,  June  23,  1714. 
1*  Syveton  quotes  St.  Simon :     II  vegetait  morne  et  silencieux  sequestre  avec 
la  reine. 


THE   DAWN    OF   THE    RATIONALISTIC    SPIRIT  17 

teaching  at  the  provincial  university  of  Oviedo.  Feijoo  had  never  traveled 
extensively,  it  was  only  late  in  life  that  he  visited  Madrid,  and  yet  his 
essays  show  a  turn  of  mind  and  a  fund  of  ideas  derived  clearly  from 
French  influences.  It  had  not  been  possible  for  the  semi-French  court 
to  make  the  capital  a  distributing  center  of  French  ideas  but  individual 
Spaniards  even  in  distant  provinces  were,  through  reading,  acquiring  a 
stock  of  ideas  and  opinions  of  a  rationalistic  nature ;  there  was  a  steady 
influx  of  thought  coming  into  Spain  from  beyond  the  Pyrenees  and  the 
court  neither  hindered  nor  promoted  that  movement  to  any  great  extent. 
The  first  volume  of  the  "Teatro  Critico"  has  an  essay  entitled  "A 
Parallel  of  the  French  and  the  Spanish  Languages."  This  essay  sheds  the 
most  vivid  light  on  the  attitude  of  the  middle  class  of  at  least  northern 
Spain  towards  the  infiltration  of  foreign  ideas.  It  shows  that  the  struggle 
between  gallophiles  and  conservative  Spaniards  was  already  well  started 
in  1726,  for  its  first  words  are  a  censure  pronounced  against  the  excesses 
of  both  parties.  The  following  long  quotation  proves  that  the  foreign 
ideas  had  seized  upon  many  and  influenced  not  only  their  intellectual  at- 
titude but  had  also  affected  their  habits  of  dress  and  speech.  Even  at  that 
early  date  their  attachment  to  French  ways  was  worthy  of  notice.  This 
leads  us  to  believe  that  the  movement  must  have  been  fairly  noticeable 
even  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  century.  "Dos  extremes 
entrambos  reprehensibles  noto  en  nuestros  espafioles  en  orden  a  las  cosas 
nacionales :  unos  las  engrandecen  hasta  el  cielo ;  otros  las  abaten  hasta  el 
abismo.  Aquellos,  que  ni  con  el  trato  de  los  extranjeros,  ni  con  la  lectura 
de  los  libros,  espaciaron  su  espiritu  fuera  del  recinto  de  su  patria,  juzgan 
que  cuanto  hay  de  bueno  en  el  mundo  esta  encerrado  en  ella.  De  aqui 
apuel  barbaro  desden  con  que  miran  a  las  demas  naciones  .  .  .  bastales  ver 
a  otro  espaiiol  con  un  libro  italiano  6  frances  en  la  mano,  para  con- 
denarle  por  genio  extravagante  y  ridiculo."  So  much  for  the  reactionary 
party  who  neither  travel  nor  read,  now  for  those  who  are  giving  up  the 
national  traditions.  "Por  el  contrario,  los  que  han  peregrinado  por 
varias  tierras,  6  sin  salir  de  la  suya,  comerciando  con  extranjeros,  si  son 
picados  tanto  cuanto  de  la  vanidad  de  espiritus  amenos,  inclinados  a 
lenguas  y  noticas,  todas  las  cosas  de  otras  naciones  mirian  con  admiracion, 
las  de  la  nuestra  con  desden.  Solo  en  Francia,  pongo  por  ejemplo,  reinan, 
segun  su  dictamen,  la  delicadeza,  la  policia,  el  buen  gusta :  aca  todo  es 
rudeza  y  barbaric.  Es  cosa  graciosa  ver  a  algunos  de  estos  nacionistas 
(que  tomo  por  lo  mismo  que  antinacionales)  hacer  violencia  a  todos  sus 
miembros,  para  imitar  a  los  extranjeros  en  gestos,  movimientos  y  acciones, 
poniendo  especial  studio  en  andar  como  ellos  andan,  sentarse  como  se 
sientan,  reirse  como  se  rien,  hacer  la  cortesia  como  ellos  la  hacen,  y  asi 


18  THE    NEO-CLASSIC    MOVEMENT    IN    SPAIN 

de  todo  lo  demas.  .  .  ."  ^^  Surely  the  Gallicizing  of  the  people  had  ad- 
vanced quite  far  since  such  observations  as  the  ones  just  quoted  could  be 
made  in  a  little  provincial  town,  whose  population  had  no  particular  op- 
portunity to  develop  a  class  of  "precieux"  except  in  so  far  as  its  being  a 
seaport  enabled  it  to  communicate  quite  freely  with  the  rest  of  Europe. 
But  dress  and  social  graces  were  not  the  only  signs  of  the  foreign  in- 
filtration. The  language  of  the  provinces  was  also  being  altered,  by  these 
same  extremists  and  by  others,  who  were  influenced  more  in  their  mind 
than  in  their  habits  of  dress  and  attitude.  "Entre  estos  y  aun  fuera  de 
estos  sobresalen  algunos  apasionados  amantes  de  la  lengua  francesa,  que 
prefiriendola  con  grandes  ventajas  a  la  castellana  ponderan  sus  hechizos, 
exaltan  sus  primores  y  no  pudiendo  sufrir  ni  una  breve  ausencia  de  su 
adorado  idioma,  con  algunas  voces  que  usurpan  de  el  salpican  la  conver- 
sacion  aun  cuando  hablan  en  castellano.  fisto,  en  parte,  puede  decirse  que 
ya  se  hizo  moda,  pues  los  que  hablan  castellano  puro,  casi  son  mirados 
como  hombres  del  tiempo  de  los  godos." 

Feijoo's  patriotic  mind  was  not  to  be  blinded  by  these  excesses  to 
the  advantages  which  the  new  movement  could  bring  to  Spain.  Among 
these  real  advantages,  he  places  the  opportunity  that  the  French  language 
offered  the  individuals  to  read  books  which,  while  of  primary  importance, 
were  not  to  be  obtained  in  the  Castilian  tongue. 

The  books  which  Feijoo  cites  are  not  of  a  frivolous  character  and  the 
eccentricities  in  dress  and  diction  which  he  condemned  in  the  above  quo- 
tation could  not  have  arisen  from  the  perusal  of  such  works.  It  may  be 
fair  to  infer  that  the  lighter  side  of  French  literature  was  not  unknown 
to  the  reading  public  of  the  city  of  Oviedo.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we  shall 
see  a  little  later  that  Feijoo  was  acquainted  with  some  of  the  novels  of  the 
later  school  of  preciosity.  However  this  may  be,  what  our  Benedictine 
recommends  mainly  are  works  of  history  and  science.  He  cites  first  of 
all  the  great  Historical  Dictionary  of  Moreri.  Then  come  the  geographical 
dictionary  of  Baudrard  and  Th.  Corneille,  the  publications  of  the  Acad- 
emic des  Sciences,  the  Journal  de  Trevoux,  the  Journal  des  Savants,  La 
Republique  des  Lettres,  accounts  of  Travels  by  Tavernier  and  Tevenot. 
Nearly  all  are  works  which  treat  subjects  in  the  way  in  which  he  himself 
liked  to  write,  that  is  in  a  style  halfway  between  that  of  the  essay  and 
that  of  the  newspaper  article.  To  this  list  may  be  added  references  to 
authors  on  sacred  subjects,  Bossuet,  Malbranche,  and  Fenelon  whose 
Telemaque  is  so  honored  by  Feijoo  as  to  be  put  in  the  same  class  with 
the  works  of  Mile,  de  Scudery,  in  which  he  felt  that  art  had  been  "most 

^5  Feijoo.  Teatro  Critico,  v.  I,  essay  15,  Paralelo  de  las  lenguas  castellana  y 
francesa. 


THE   DAWN    OF   THE   RATIONALISTIC    SPIRIT  19 

agreeably  united  with  Nature."  *  This  unfortunate  judgment  suggests 
the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  neo-classic  critic.  Indeed  it  is  clear  from 
several  discussions  on  similar  subjects  that  Feijoo  was  acquainted  with 
the  tenets  of  neo-classic  criticism  although  he  does  not  quote  from  the 
great  writers  of  either  the  Italian  or  the  French  school.  The  critic  to 
whom  he  refers  at  times  with  evident  approval  is  St.  Evremond. 

In  more  than  one  instance  does  Feijoo  show  his  interest  in  matters 
dealing  with  the  judgment  of  literary  works.  We  have  seen  him  reproach 
his  fellow  citizens  for  speaking  a  Gallicized  Spanish.  This  is  interesting 
enough  since  he  himself  is  held  up  in  our  days  as  a  writer  who  sinned  in 
that  very  way.  At  the  end  of  the  article  from  which  we  have  been 
quoting,  there  is  a  paragraph  roundly  condemning  the  excesses  of  Gon- 
gorism,  a  form  of  literary  vice  arising  "from  the  inability  on  the  author's 
part  to  distinguish  between  elevated  style  and  affectation." 

The  two  essays  which  bring  out  Feijoo's  ideas  on  criticism  are  the 
one  entitled  "El  no  se  que"  and  the  one  discussing  the  question  whether 
or  no  taste  can  be  controlled  by  reason.^' 

As  the  title  of  the  first  one  indicates,  it  discusses  that  intangible 
something  which  is  the  charm  of  those  literary  works  which  are  pleasing 
and  often  fascinating  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  do  not  comply  with  the 
orthodox  rules  which  should  govern  the  composition  of  works  of  art. 
Feijoo  does  not  doubt  for  a  moment  that  there  are  fixed  artistic  stand- 
ards ;  at  the  same  time  he  is  ready  to  admit  as  very  real,  the  value  of  that 
uncertain  quantity,  the  "no  se  que." 

This  is  rather  paradoxical  since  very  often  that  "no  se  que"  is  a 
flagrant  infraction  of  the  body  of  recognized  rules  and  a  menace  to  the 
orthodox  standards  of  literary  beauty.  Feijoo,  who  possesses  great  skill 
in  explaining  away  dilemmas,  concludes  that  the  rules  known  to  man  are 
but  the  merest  sketch  of  the  code  which  would  represent  perfect  art,  and 
that  the  "no  se  que"  is  a  manifestation  of  those  principles  which  the  mind 
of  man,  in  its  weakness,  has  not  yet  tabulated.  Were  all  the  rules  known, 
beauty  would  have  no  elusive  qualities  and  nothing  beautiful  could  ever 
come  in  conflict  with  the  rules.  Critics  who  claim  that  literary  composi- 
tions may  be  beautiful  against  the  rules  are  quite  wrong — "este  no  se  que 
digo  yo  que  es  una  determinada  proporcion  de  las  partes  en  que  ellos  no 
habian  pensado  y  distinta  de  aquella  que  tienen  por  unico."  In  other 
words  Feijoo  feels  that  definite  standards  are  absolutely  necessary ;  his 
priestly  temperament  feels  the  need  of  authority  in  these  matters  as  in 
those  dealing  with  religion.  At  the  same  time  his  sound  judgment  tells 
him  that  there  is  a  danger  in  set  rules,  he  realizes  that  they  may  be  applied 

^'  Feijoo,  Teatro  Critico,  v.  VI,  essays  11  and  12. 


20  THE    NEO-CLASSIC    MOVEMENT    IN    SPAIN 

SO  strictly  as  to  kill  all  inspiration.  The  conflict  between  his  character 
and  his  intelligence  gave  rise  to  the  explanation  given  above,  by  means 
of  which  the  rules  keep  their  place  of  importance  without  fettering  the 
legitimate  impulses  of  the  artist. 

If  in  the  article  just  discussed  Feijoo  seems  to  favor  the  less  explain- 
able sides  of  beauty,  in  the  one  entitled  "La  Razon  del  Gusto"  he  evens 
up  matters  by  making  a  .stand  against  those  who  claim  that  taste  is  a  law- 
less something  not  answerable  to  reason.  Pursuing  the  policy  of  com- 
promise already  mentioned,  he  admits  first  that  there  are  certain  elements 
in  taste  which  are  not  directly  under  control.  Such  are  the  elements 
which  depend  on  temperament.  But  taste  is  the  result  of  temperament 
plus  intellect,  and  intellect  is  always  amenable  to  reason,  so  that  through 
it  the  first  component  of  taste  can  be  influenced  and  directed.  Feijoo 
admits  the  partial  relativity  of  the  idea  of  taste  but  only  its  partial  rela- 
tivity. There  is  room  for  uncertainty,  but  since  that  element  exists 
together  with  the  intellect  the  uncertainty  can  be  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
by  training.  "Los  vicios  de  la  aprension  son  curables  con  razones"  and  by 
"aprension"  he  means  the  understanding  or  the  intellect.  "De  todo  lo 
alegado  en  este  discurso  se  concluye  que  hay  razon  para  el  gusto  y  que 
cabe  razon  6  disputa  contra  el  gusto."  Those  writers  who  claim  that  taste  is 
above  rules,  that  it  is  its  own  excuse  for  being,  will  not  agree  with 
Feijoo's  conclusions.  He  has  the  typical  distrust  of  the  man  of  sound 
moral  character  for  things  which  are  claimed  to  transcend  reason. 

At  the  same  time  he  recognizes  that  reason  has  its  limitations.  Later 
in  Hfe,  after  witnessing  a  large  part  of  the  neo-classic  controversy  and  the 
excesses  of  its  defenders,  he  is  less  willing  to  grant  so  much  to 
reason  or  rather  to  logic,  for  it  is  the  "esprit  de  geometric"  which  he 
attacks  in  a  letter  to  a  person  who  had  asked  to  be  enlightened  as  to  the 
true  nature  of  criticism.  In  that  essay  he  wrote  that  there  were  no  set 
rules  but  merely  a  body  of  general  maxims  which  the  understanding  of 
any  man  could  formulate — "lo  cierto  es,  que  las  prendas  intelectuales,  sean 
las  que  fueren,  nunca  haran  un  buen  critico,  si  faltan  otras  dos  que 
partenecen  a  la  voluntad  .  .  .  sinceridad  y  magnanimidad."  ^^ 

That  sincerity  and  generosity  are  qualities  needed  by  a  great  critic 
is  undeniable.  Doubtless  in  mentioning  these  rather  vague  qualities 
Feijoo  felt  that  he  was  supplying  something  which  it  was  not  in  him  to 
understand  very  well ;  he  was  trying  to  explain  away  the  "no  se  que" 
for  the  second  time  and  that  "no  se  que"  whose  existence  he  felt  but 
whose  nature  he  could  not  grasp  was  what  we  should  call  the  aesthetic 
sense,  the  one  quality  which  he  did  not  have  to  any  great  degree  and  the 


17  Cartas  Eruditas.     Article  entitled  De  la  Critica.     B.  A.  E.,  v.  LVI,  p.  598. 


THE   DAWN    OF   THE   RATIONALISTIC    SPIRIT  21 

absence  of  which  prevented  his  being  a  superior  critic.  He  had  intellect 
in  plenty,  character  in  abundance,  but  the  third  quality,  a  sure  sense  of  the 
beautiful,  he  did  not  possess.* 

Had  the  aesthetic  sense  of  Feijoo  been  delicate  enough  to  compare 
with  the  keenness  of  his  intelligence  and  the  soundness  of  his  moral  char- 
acter he  would  have  come  very  near  to  being  the  ideal  critic  whose  stand- 
ards, because  of  their  combined  firmness  and  comprehensiveness,  have 
been  compared  to  a  coat  of  elastic  steel. 

The  critical  ideas  of  Feijoo  being  lost  in  a  mass  of  irrelevant  matter 
could  never  be  seriously  influential  in  the  literary  struggles  of  the  day, 
even  though  the  works  of  that  writer  were  immensely  popular  in  Spain. 
Important  as  is  his  place  in  the  neo-classic  movement,  Feijoo  must  be 
counted,  not  as  a  founder,  but  as  a  precursor.  The  man  who  gave  Spain 
the  literary  platform  which  was  to  guide  the  efforts  of  a  definitely  con- 
stituted neo-classic  movement  was  Ignacio  de  Luzan. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  I. 

p.  14.  Marie  Louise  Gabrielle  de  Savoie  born  in  Turin  in  1688.  When 
Philip  V  went  to  Italy  to  command  his  armies  he  made  her  regent  of  the  realm. 
That  was  in  1706.  By  her  energy  she  stimulated  the  patriotism  of  the  provinces. 
She  pawned  her  diamonds  to  pay  her  soldiers. 

P.  15.     Tremoille,  v.  V.     Princesse  des  Ursins  a  Torcy,  Feb.  20,  1713. 

In  Sempere  and  Guarinos.  Ensayo  de  una  Biblioteca  Espaiiola  de  los  Mejores 
Escritores  del  reinado  de  Carlos  III.,  Madrid,  1785.  v.  I,  p.  11.  Villena  is 
spoken  of  as  a  gentleman  fond  of  chemistry,  anatomy,  Greek,  and  botany.  "En 
Escalona,  pueblo  de  sus  estados,  hay  una  torre  que  llaman  de  la  Chimica  .  .  .  se 
conservan  en  ella  todavia  muchas  hornillas."  He  seems  to  represent  the  begin- 
ning of  the  scientific  and  "philosophique"  spirit  in  Spain. 

P.  16.  Le  tete  a  tete  perpetuel  avait  toujours  ete  son  goiit  dominant.  Tesse 
se  plaint  de  "son  eternel  desir  de  ne  voir  personne."  Tesse  a  Noailles,  Oct.  24th, 
1724.     Cited  by  S.  Syveton.     Une  cour  et  un  aventurier  au  XVIII  s. 

P.  16.  Farinelli  was  an  Italian  tenor  who  had  sung  in  England  and  France. 
His  services  were  definitely  retained  by  Philip  V.  He  was  the  favorite  singer  at 
court  under  him  and  his  two  successors.  He  seems  to  have  established  a  record 
for  probity  in  not  using  his  favored  position  to  better  his  condition.  Bourgoing, 
(Nouv.  Voy.)  v.  I,  p.  230,  says  of  him:  "Farinelli  .  .  .  qui  dut  a  ses  talents  une 
faveur  signalee,  dont  personne  ne  murmura,  parce  que  personne  n'en  souflfrit, 
parcequ'il  en  usa  avec  modestie  et  n'en  abusa  jamais." 

P.  16.  Menendez  y  Pelayo.  Ideas  Esteticas.  v.  V,  ch.  ii. — Desarrollo  de  la 
preceptfva  durante  la  primera  mitad  del  siglo  XVIII. — concludes  that  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Bourbon  dynasty  was  not  the  cause  of  the  introduction  of  rational- 
ism which  was  a  European  movement  bound  to  sweep  over  Spain. 


22  THE    NEO-CLASSIC    MOVEMENT    IN    SPAIN 

P.  19.  In  "El  Scmanario  Erudito,"  vol.  V,  pp.  97-174,  there  is  printed  the 
following  work :  Catalogo  de  algunos  libros  curiosos  y  selectos  para  la  librerfa 
de  algun  particular,  que  desee  comprar  de  tres  a  quatro  mil  tomos.  Por  el  Rimo. 
Padre  Maestro  Fray  Martin  Sarmiento.  Benedictino  de  Madrid.  There  is  no 
indication  as  to  the  date  when  this  catalogue  was  composed,  but  Sarmiento  like 
Feijoo  represents  the  earlier  stages  of  the  rationalistic  movement  in  Spain.  The 
books  mentioned  here  are  therefore  of  interest  to  us.  The  classification  is  as 
follows : 

i.     Technical  works  on  theology  and  general  history. 

ii.     Under    "Libros    muy    curiosos    y    selectos."     Herklot — Bib.     Oriental    en 

Frances.     Harduin — Todas  sus  obras  por  singular.     Bergier — Historia  de 

las  vias  Militares  de  los  Rom.     (en  Frances.)     Moreri — Diet.  Chomel — 

Diet,  economico.     Basnage — Hist,  de  los  Judios.     Benedictine's  History. 

iii.     "Libros    de    Singulares    Asuntos" :      Reaumur    on    Insects,    Virtudes    del 

agua  comun,  Del  cafe,  the  y  chocolate.     Juan  Tiers  Histoire  de   Perug. 

(sic).     Bonet — Arte  de  ensefiar  los  mudos  (castellanos).     San  Evremont 

— Sus  obras  Francesas.     San  Aubain — Tratado  de  la  Opinion. 

iv.     "Delicias."    Espectaculo  de  la  Naturaleza  en  Frances — Ejusden  Historia 

del  Cielo.     No  author  given — BuflFon's  work  must  be  meant  by  the  first 

title.     Poliniere — Experimentos    phisicos.     Abb.    Boniere — Origen    de   las 

Fabulas.     Mr.   Rollin — todo.    Juan  Loke — Humano  entendimiento.    Gau- 

tier — Bib.  Fil.  en  Frances.     Menage.     Historia  mulierum  Philosopharium. 

P.  Regnault — Fisica.     P.  Labrausel — Con  el  abuso  de  la  Critica.     Fonte- 

nelle — Sus  Opiisculos.     Langlet — Methodo  para  estudiar  la  historia.     On 

p.    131    recommends    that    the   complete    works    of    Bude    and    Bayle   be 

printed. 

P.  21.     Menendez  y  Palayo.    Ideas  Est.,  v.  V,  p.  164,  shows  how  to  Feijoo  poetry 

and  history  were  synonymous.   Beside  his  strange  enthusiasm  for  Mile,  de  Scudery 

we  have  such  remarks  as  these,  after  quoting  Malherbe,  "iQue  falta  nos  harfan 

los  poetas?"     He  speaks  of  "Las  patrafias  que  en  verso  elegantes  presento  Grecia 

a  las  naciones."     Yet  he  had  said  in  the  Paralelo  de  Las  Lenguas,  etc. :     "Quien 

quiere  que  no  aya  poetas." 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Reintroduction  of  the  Aristotelian  Rules  of  Criticism   in 
Spain  Through  Luzan's  Poetica. 

Luzan  was  a  Spanish  gentleman  *  whose  formative  years  had  been 
spent  in  Italy  where  he  had  studied  together  with  the  humanities,  law, 
philosophy  and  mathematics.  He  had  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  literary 
life  of  Italy,  being  made  a  member  of  several  of  the  academies  of  that 
country.  His  well  rounded  education  and  his  long  residence  abroad  had 
not  diminished  his  love  for  Spain.  Long  before  returning  to  his  native 
land  he  had  made  a  thorough  study  of  Spanish  literature.  He  had  be- 
come deeply  interested  in  the  strong  contrast  brought  out  by  a  compari- 
son of  the  neo-classic  literatures  of  Europe  with  Spanish  letters.  While 
fully  appreciative  of  the  brilliant  qualities  of  Spanish  literature,  his 
eclectic  training  did  not  allow  him  to  approve  of  the  excessive  vigor  in 
style  of  certain  authors  or  of  the  tendency  to  obscurity  in  thought  of 
others.  Moreover  he  found  but  little  to  admire  in  the  works  of  contem- 
porary writers  and  he  grieved  over  the  intellectual  inferiority  which  these 
same  works  betrayed. 

Thought  and  study  brought  him  to  the  conclusion  that  this  deplorable 
state  of  affairs  was  due  directly  to  the  increase  in  those  faults  of  taste 
and  judgment  whose  germs  he  had  found  even  in  the  writings  of  some 
of  the  recognized  masters  of  Spanish  literature. 

Luzan  felt  that  if  Spanish  writers  were  made  to  realize  how  per- 
nicious these  defects  were,  they  would  be  able  to  mend  them.  This  done, 
he  believed  that  Spanish  literature  would  begin  at  once  to  regain  the 
respectable  position  which  it  had  held  in  the  past  among  the  great  litera- 
tures of  the  world. 

His  relations  with  Italian  literary  academies  had  naturally  turned 
his  attention  to  that  fruitful  field  of  discussions,  the  Aristotelian  rules  of 
criticism.  Naturally  enough  he  felt  that  there  was  in  the  rules  the  remedy 
needed  to  combat  the  disease  which  had  done  so  much  to  bring  about  the 
decadence  of  Spanish  letters. 

Whether  he  had  composed  a  commentary  on  Aristotle  to  be  read  be- 
fore some  Italian  literary  Academy  and  then  later  had  added  illustrations 
drawn  from  Spanish  writers  or  whether  he  wrote  his  commentary  with 
the  well  formed  purpose  of  applying  its  tenets  to  Spanish  literature  is  not 
known.  What  is  certain  is  that  four  years  after  his  return  to  his  country 
he  published  a  work  which  was  said  to  be  a  translation  of  his  Italian 


24  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

treatise  and  that  it  contained  beside  the  customary  Aristotelian  arguments 
paragraphs  and  chapters  intended  to  show  in  what  cases  certain  important 
Spanish  writers  had  been  guided  by  reason  and  in  what  cases  they  had 
strayed  from  it.  This  work  was  the  famous  "Arte  Poetica"  *  which  proved 
to  be  the  literary  platform  of  the  neo-classic  movement  in  Spain ;  the 
code  of  laws  on  which  the  neo-classic  partisans,  from  1737  on,  were  to 
base  their  arguments  for  defense  or  for  attack. 

It  will  pay  us,  therefore,  to  make  a  rather  careful  analysis  of  a  book 
which  contains  the  directing  lines  of  the  movement  which  we  are  study- 
ing. We  shall  lay  emphasis  only  on-  those  points  which  have  a  direct 
bearing  on  the  living  issues  of  the  literary  controversy  in  which  we  are 
interested,  relegating  the  less  relevant  matter  to  foot-notes.  In  all  cases 
we  shall  endeavor  to  grasp  the  spirit  and  attitude  of  mind  of  the  author 
rather  than  to  attempt  any  comparison  of  his  statements  and  arguments 
v.'ith  those  of  the  great  Italian  or  French  Aristotelian  commentators  whom 
he  followed.  In  other  words,  what  interests  us  is  not  what  Luzan  received 
from  others,  but  what  he  gave  to  his  Spanish  readers. 

The  Poetica.  General  Character  of  the  Rules. — In  the  foreword  of 
the  "Poetica,"  ^^  Luzan  warns  his  readers  against  the  possible  error  of  be- 
lieving that  the  principles  and  rules  set  forth  in  the  body  of  the  work 
are  in  any  way  new,  for  on  the  contrary,  they  go  back,  for  the  greater 
part,  to  Aristotle.  Horace  was  the  next  thinker  to  discuss  them.  Since 
then  they  have  been  expounded  by  the  learned  men  of  all  cultured  nations 
and  their  usefulness  universally  recognized.  Even  if  it  were  not  possible 
to  summon  such  great  names  in  support  of  the  venerable  character  of  the 
rules,  their  authoritativeness  could  be  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  is  based 
on  reason  itself  and  therefore  is  as  old  as  man's  power  of  speech. 

After  having  thus  shown  the  unassailable  character  of  his  subject 
matter  he  begs  his  readers  not  to  take  umbrage  at  the  criticisms  which 
they  will  find  directed  against  such  writers  as  Calderon  and  Solis.  They 
are  writers  whom  he  himself  respects  and  admires.  If  he  has  criticized 
them  in  certain  instances,  it  is  not  because  they  seemed  to  him  the  mosf 
blameworthy,  but  because  they  happened  to  be  the  ones  who  thrust  them- 
selves most  violently  on  his  attention.  In  this,  he  acted  as  do  those 
responsible  for  the  peace  and  good  order  of  a  com.munity,  who,  when 
facing  a  street  riot,  arrest  the  first  ones  they  can  lay  hands  on  without 
any  consideration  of  the  comparative  degree  of  their  guilt. 

Luzan' s  Attitude  towards  Spanish  Literature. — The  introductory 
chapter  of  Book  I  of  the  "Poetica"  gives  more  fully  Luzan's  ideas  on  the 
literary  situation  in  Spain.  It  becomes  evident  from  his  statements  that 
he  attributes  to  lack  of  discipline  the  great  weakness  of  contemporary 

^®  Poetica,  Al  Lector,  page  not  numbered. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  25 

Spanish  literature  and  that  his  aim  in  undertaking  to  write  an  "Arte 
Poetica"  is  to  introduce  some  definite  principles  of  control  and  guidance 
in  the  literary  activity  of  Spain. 

^<^.  Spain  has  never  lacked  geniuses  nor  has  erudition  been  wanting,  but, 
by  some  long  continued  ill  luck,  no  one  has  ever  taken  the  trouble  to  ex- 
pound clearly  in  Spanish  those  rules  without  whose  help,  genius,  neces- 
sary as  it  is,  can  never  hope  to  create  perfect  work.  Indeed  it  is  to  this 
mistaken  faith  in  the  absolute  power  of  unaided  genius  that  Spanish 
letters  owe  their  present  low  state,  particularly  in  the  dramatic  field.* 

Had  Lope  and  Calderon  realized  the  necessity  of  application  and 
"art,"  Spain  would  now  possess  comedies  which  by  their  perfection  would 
arouse  the  envy  of  all  the  cultured  nations. ^° 

The  excessive  reliance  of  these  authors  on  unaided  genius  made 
them  write  plays  which,  for  the  most  part,  were  to  be  open  to  the  criti- 
cisms and  ridicule  of  educated  foreigners.* 

Those  early  Spanish  poets  who  should  have  become  national  models 
were  soon  forgotten ;  pompous  style,  quibbles,  far-fetched  metaphors  and 
the  like,  .soon  deceived  the  vulgar  and  bestowed  on  their  authors  the 
glory  which  rightly  belongs  only  to  good  poets.  Lope  increased  the  con- 
fusion with  his  "Arte  Nuevo  de  Hacer  Comedias,"  a  work  not  worthy 
to  be  printed  with  the  other  writings  of  that  author.  No  one  dared  face 
the  situation  and  make  the  effort  necessary  to  set  the  vulgar  on  the  right 
road.  The  task,  though  a  hard  one,  ought  to  have  tempted  those  who 
claimed  to  love  the  letters  of  their  country. 

Luzan.  though  keenly  aware  of  his  limitations,  is  going  to  undertake 
this  work  for  the  sake  of  the  literary  reputation  of  the  nation.^*' 

This  prologue  to  the  first  book  then  is  the  confession  of  faith  of 
Luzan.  It..shows  him  to  be  sane-and  patriotic.  He  sees  clearly  the  need 
of  a  curb  for  the  splendid  genius  of  his  countrymen.  Never  for  a  moment 
does  he  entertain  any  doubts  as  to  the  real  value  of  that  genius  but  he 
regrets  that  a  failure  to  direct  it  has  made  it  possible  for  foreigners  to 
scorn  the  literature  of  Spain.  Spain  has  lacked  fearless  critics.  Its  best 
writers  have  been  led  astray  by  vanity  and  have  drifted  into  all  forms  of 
literary  affectation  through  laziness.  Hopeless  as  the  task  may  seem, 
Luzan,  by  introducing  the  rules,  is  going  to  start  a  new  movement  which, 
in  course  of  time,  will  enable  Spain  to  make  the  right  use  of  its  powers. 

Luzan's  plan  as  carried  out  in  the  "Arte  Poetica"  was  to  state  the 
technical  matter  which  he  felt  was  needed  and,  from  time  to  time,  as 
occasion  called  for  it,  to  criticize  prominent  authors  who  illustrated  pos- 
itively or  negatively  the  usefulness  of  the  rules  stated.    This  method  was 


19  Poetica,  Bk.  I,  Proemio,  p.  5. 

20  Poetica,  p.  78. 


26  THE   NEO-CLASSIC    MOVEMENT   IN   SPAIN 

of  course  the  logical  one  from  a  pedagogical  standpoint.  In  all  cases 
the  illustration  followed  the  rule.  For  us,  however,  who  are  trying  to 
make  up  our  mind  on  the  real  attitude  of  Luzan  towards  the  Spanish 
authors  whom  he  criticizes,  this  method  is  not  the  most  advantageous. 
The  technical  matter  being  more  bulky  by  far  than  that  dealing  with 
criticism,  the  latter  does  not  appear  to  the  reader  as  a  whole  and  for 
that  reason  its  spirit  is  not  always  easy  to  grasp. 

With  a  view  to  segregating  the  literary  criticism  from  the  dogma, 
with  each  of  the  first  three  books  we  are  going  to  make  first  a  resume 
ci  the  neo-classic  material  it  contains,  following  this  with  a  review  of  the 
judgments  passed  on  authors  in  the  course  of  the  technical  discussion. 

The  Technical  Matter  of  Book  I. — The  first  book  is  entitled  "De  el 
Origen,  Progressos  y  Esencia  de  la  Poesia."  As  might  be  expected  it 
sketches  rapidly  the  history  of  poetry  following  the  outline  given  by 
Scaliger  and  Benio. 

Poetry  took  its  rise  in  Egypt,  soon  becoming  the  exclusive  property 
of  the  learned  classes,  who  tried  to  teach  religion  by  its  means  and  thus 
it  became  the  tool  of  idolatry. 

Later  it  passed  to  Greece  where  it  broke  up  into  its  various  genres, 
the  epic,  the  tragedy,  the  comedy,  lyrical  poetry  and  the  satire.  One 
more  migration  brought  it  to  Rome  where  it  saw  flourishing  days  but 
where  it  never  reached  the  perfection  to  which  it  had  attained  among  the 
Greeks.^^ 

Poetry  in  vulgar  tongues  appeared  first  in  Sicily.  It  was  introduced 
rather  late  into  Spain  and  we  shall  learn  of  its  fate  in  that  country  when 
we  come  to  deal  with  Luzan's  critical  ideas. 

Pursuing,  for  the  present,  our  review  of  the  technical  points,  we 
find  stated  in  the  third  chapter  that  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  aimed 
equally  to  teach  and  to  please.  The  Iliad  contained  excellent  political 
advice  for  the  use  of  Greek  rulers.  It  delighted  the  average  reader  with 
its  true  rendering  of  the  simplicity  of  Greek  life  in  which  the  herding 
of  cattle  was  considered  a  noble  occupation  and  where  the  daughters  of 
princes  went  to  the  fountain  to  fetch  water.  Luzan  does  not  quite  dare  say 
"to  wash  clothes." 

Just  as  these  matters  were  typical  of  Greek  life,  the  use  of  mythologi- 
cal machinery  was  fitting  enough  in  Roman  literature.  By  the  same  token, 
now  that  idolatry  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  Jupiter  and  all  the  other  gods 
must  be  replaced  by  angels,  demons,  and  magicians  who  satisfy  the 
requirements  of  verisimilitude.** 

The  chapter  ends  with  this  plea  for  the  "merveilleux  chretien"  which 

*^  Poetica,  p.  13.    In  this  discussion  Luzan  refers  to  J.  M.  Crescimbcni. 
"  Poetica,  p.  28. 


«EINTR0DUCT10N    OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  27 

has  helped  Menendez  y  Pelayo  to  strengthen  his  thesis  that,  in  so  far  as 
L.uzan  represents  a  foreign  influence,  it  is  not  French  but  Italian  since,  as 
is  well  known,  Boileau  would  have  banished  from  serious  literature 
miracles  and  those  who  bring  them  about.* 

Treating  of  the  essence  and  definition  of  poetry,  Luzan  can  agree 
neither  with  Minturno  nor  with  Aristotle  as  cited  by  Benio.  He  ends  by 
giving  his  own  definition:  "Imitacion  de  la  Naturaleza  en  lo  Universal 
6  en  lo  Particular  hecha  con  versos  para  utilidad  6  para  deleite  de  los 
hombres  6  para  uno  y  otro  juntamente."  ^^  This  leads  to  a  discussion  of 
the  nature  of  imitation  and  the  reasons  why  imitation  is  pleasant  to  man. 
The  explanation  is  certainly  typical  of  the  century  in  which  Luzan  wrote. 
What  could  be  more  naively  rationalistic  than  the  following  statement: 
"Como  nada  hai  mas  dulce  ni  mas  agradable  para  nuestro  espiritu  que  el 
aprender,  nuestro  entendimiento  cotejando  la  Imitacion  con  el  objecto  imi- 
tado  se  alegra  de  aprender  que  esta  "es  la  tal  cosa"  y  al  mismo  tiempo 
se  deleita  en  conocer  y  admirar  la  perfeccion  de  el  Arte.  For  eso  nos 
deleitan  pintados  los  monstruos  mas  feos.^* 

After  making  the  comparison  between  poetry  and  painting  which  is 
"de  rigueiir"  *  in  a  neo-classic  discussion,  Luzan  analyzes  the  nature  of 
imitation,  concluding  that  it  is  of  two  kinds ;  namely,  imitation  of  what 
is  universal  and  of  what  is  particular.* 

Imitation  of  what  is  universal  means  the  imitation  of  subjects  which 
can  be  idealized.  Human  character  belongs  to  that  class  since,  through 
the  freedom  of  the  will,  it  is  capable  of  greater  perfection  than  that  which 
it  now  possesses.  If  the  poet  lets  his  imagination  alter  human  character 
for  the  better,  he  will  be  effective  and  useful  since  he  is  painting,  if  not 
from  a  real  model,  at  least  from  a  possible  one. 

This  reasoning  disposes  of  the  argument  of  those  who  claim  that 
imagination  has  no  place  in  literature  because  it  violates  the  principle 
that  no  image  is  effective  whose  model  is  not  known  to  exist. 

The  way  of  looking  at  the  matter  which  has  just  been  refuted  holds 
all  its  force  in  the  case  of  natural  or  inanimate  objects  which  were  created 
perfect  by  God  and  which  are  thereby  incapable  of  any  improvement. 
Exact  reproduction  by  the  artist  is  the  only  rule  in  their  case,  "porque 
nada  le  ira  a  la  mano  en  las  flores  conque  pretenda  matizar  el  Frado,  ni 
en  las  colores  conque  quira  arrebolar  la  Aurora,  como  scan  naturales."  ^® 

To  be  sure,  immediately  after  this  discussion,  which  leaves  such  a 
loophole  for  free  fancy,  Luzan  hastens  to  add  that,  even  in  the  treatment 
of  what  is  ideal,  the  writer  must  keep  the  particular  in  mind  sufficiently 


"  Poetica,  p.  32. 
"  Poetica,  p.  36. 
•*  Poetica,  p.  53. 


28  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT   IN   SPAIN 

to  fall  in  with  the  requirements  of  verisimilitiule.  The  fact  remains  that 
the  critic  has  shown  a  possible  legitimate  use  for  the  powers  of  the  imag- 
ination and  this  will  enable  him  later  to  admire  consistently  the  works  of 
poets  whose  imagination  might  well  have  appeared  extravagant  to  more 
orthodox  neo-classic  critics. 

Luzan  gives  us  another  instance  of  his  desire  to  be  liberal.  After 
enumerating  the  possible  methods  of  literary  imitation,  namely  direct,  in- 
direct and  by  pure  narration,-'^  Luzan  explains  in  two  chapters  the  pur- 
pose and  use  of  poetry.  It  must  delight  and  it  must  teach.  Long  poems, 
however,  are  the  only  ones  which  must  satisfy  each  of  these  require- 
ments. Very  short  compositions  need  comply  with  only  one  of  them. 
If  certain  short  poems  may  be  only  useful,  others  may  well  be  written 
purely  to  delight  the  reader  and  in  such  cases  he  need  not  feel  compelled 
to  point  out  a  moral.  But  such  latitude  is  exceptional,  and  the  fact  re- 
mains that  the  great  duty  of  the  poet  is  to  teach  morals. 

Philosophy  is  not  able  to  accomplish  that  purpose  to  any  considerable 
degree  because  it  is  meant  for  the  few,  its  light  being  too  brilliant  for 
average  eyes.  It  is  the  function  of  poetry  to  soften  the  light  of  philos- 
ophy so  that  it  will  guide  and  not  dazzle  the  intellect  of  the  seekers  after 
truth.  To  be  more  specific,  epic  poems  and  tragedies  teach  right  living 
to  princes ;  comedies  direct  the  conscience  of  the  common  herd.  As  for 
lyric  poetry,  though  much  of  it  is  merely  lascivious  and  debasing,  it  often 
occurs  to  authors  to  introduce  into  such  compositions  discreet  hints 
bearing  a  moral  purpose. ^'^ 

The  Technical  Matter  of  Book  II. — This  discussion  marks  the  transi- 
tion from  the  first  to  the  second  book  of  the  "Arte  Poetica."  It  leads 
naturally  to  a  eulogy  of  didactic  poetry  upon  which  follow  three  chapters 
dealing  with  "Sweetness"  and  with  "Beauty"  which  are  the  means  by 
which  poetry  accomplishes  its  useful  mission. 

By  sweetness,  Luzan  means  the  ability  to  arouse  the  emotion  of  the 
reader,  while  beauty  is  the  union  of  variety,  unity,  regularity,  order  and 
proportion,  all  adorning  truth. 

This  dogmatic  statement  that  beauty  can  not  exist  apart  from  truth 
is  tempered  by  the  discussion  on  the  kinds  of  truths.  Truth,  we  find,  may 
be  scientific  or  it  may  be  ideal,  and  the  tw^o  kinds  may  be  found  in  one 
and  the  same  work.  Ideal  truth  is  simply  that  kind  of  truth  which  exists 
only  on  condition  of  the  acceptance  of  a  certain  hypothesis.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  any  flight  of  the  imagination  may  be  termed  truthful,  if  only 
things  are  granted  before  the  flight  is  taken.  "No  es  verdad  absoluta, 
antes  bien  es   falso,  que  la  presencia  de  una  Dama  haga  reverdecer  el 


26  Poetica,  ch.  x-xi. 
2^  Poetica,  pp.  59-63. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF    ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  29 

prado  y  nacer  a  cada  passo  aztizenas  y  claveles  que  codiciosos  y  atrevidos 
aspiran  a  la  dicha  de  ser  pisados  de  tan  hermosos  pies ;  pero  en  la  hypo- 
thesis de  que  las  Acres  tuviesen  sentido  y  conocimiento  de  la  hermosura 
de  aquella  Dama  y  estuviessen  tan  enamoradas  come  el  Poeta ;  es  verdad 
que  formarian  tales  pensamientos  y  tendrian  tales  deseos."  -* 

It  is  clear  that  this  method  of  making  the  irrational  rational  is  so 
simple  and  efificient  that,  thanks  to  it,  the  imagination  wins  in  freedom 
as  much  again  as  the  author  had  been  willing  to  grant  it  through  his 
discussion  on  the  possibility  of  idealizing  the  qualities  of  the  human  mind. 

It  is  difficult,  in  a  case  of  this  type,  to  tell  whether  Luzan  wants  to 
prove  that  the  imagination  ought  to  be  fairly  free  or  whether  he  intends 
to  show  that  even  extreme  imagination  is  indebted  to  reason.  His  criti- 
cism does  not  help  us  very  much  because,  as  we  shall  see,  there  are  times 
when  he  swings  from  a  position  of  fair  liberality  to  one  of  great  narrow- 
ness. In  this  very  part  of  his  work,  if  we  pass  rapidly  over  the  next  three 
chapters,-^  we  shall  reach  a  fourth,  which  rather  destroys  the  impression 
made  by  the  matters  just  discussed. 

We  may  indeed  dismiss  the  three  chapters  mentioned  by  simply 
noting  that  the  first  states  that  truth  is  not  always  credible,  the  second 
dwells  on  the  aid  given  to  a  plot  by  style,  while  the  last  contains  the  usual 
arguments  in  favor  of  improving  nature,  copying  only  "la  belle  nature."  * 

This  leaves  us  at  liberty  to  consider  the  twelfth  chapter  which  is  an 
attack  on  free  fancy.  In  it  we  learn  that  all  impressions  come  to  the 
soul  through  the  senses,  and  that  the  soul,  viewed  from  two  angles,  is 
imagination  and  also  intellect.  Of  these  two  aspects  of  the  soul,  the  in- 
tellectual one  is  the  higher.  The  intellect  by  itself  is  capable  of  accomplish- 
ing great  things  in  art  and  in  science.  The  intellect  and  the  imagination 
working  in  harmony,  also  give  excellent  results,  but  if  the  imagination 
is  left  in  control  of  the  whole  field  of  activity,  the  result  is  nothing  but 
disorder  and  confusion. 

Untrammeled  imagination  has  no  place  in  poetry  nor  in  the  dis- 
courses of  men  of  sense.  It  belongs  to  those  "que  6  dormidos  suenan  6  cal- 
enturientos  desvarian  6  enloquecidos  desatinan."  ^^ 

Yet  we  have  been  told  once  that  what  is  of  the  human  soul  can  be 
freely  idealized  and,  by  a  trick  of  casuistry,  we  have  been  shown,  in  an- 
other instance,  that  the  most  far-fetched  figures  could  be  brought  within 
the  realm  of  reason. 

We  may  find  the  explanation  to  this  apparent  contradiction  in  what 


28  Poetica,  p.  103. 

29  Poetica.  ch.  ix-xi. 

30  Poetica,  p.   124. 


30  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

may  be  the  key  to  Luzan's  criticisms,  namely,  that  in  the  last  analysis, 
his  judgments  were  based  not  on  rules  but  on  common  sense.  In  Chapter 
XIII  of  this  same  book,  we  find  this  advice  which  is  in  no  way  didactic : 
"Considerar  bien  lo  que  hace  6  no  hace  el  caso  y  quitar  todo  lo  que  puede 
danar  a  su  designo  aunque  lo  que  se  quita  sea  un  gran  pensamiento  al 
parecer  6  una  expresion  de  las  mas  elegantes  6  ingeniosas;  que  no  per- 
dera  por  eso  la  descripcion  antes  bien  ganara  mucho  y  sera  mas  bella 
porque  mas  propicia  y  mas  del  caso."  ^^ 

Such  a  passage,  considered  in  the  light  of  other  statements  of  a  lib- 
eral character,  would  tend  to  show  that  what  Luzan  hoped  from  the  rules 
was  a  prompting  and  guiding  power,  not  a  tyrannical  sway  over  the  com- 
mon sense  of  the  writers  of  his  country. 

The  other  technical  points  contained  in  the  second  book  of  the 
"Poetica"  can  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows : 

We  are  told  again  that  all  artistic  conceptions  must  be  based  on 
truth  whether  real,  possible,  or  probable.  We  learn  that  verisimilitude 
requires  a  proper  relationship  to  exist  between  characters  and  the  words 
which  they  speak.  Styles  are  classified  as  noble,  humble  and  moderate. 
A  fitting  literary  diction  is  shown  to  be  as  necessary  to  a  genre  as  good 
clothes  to  a  person.'^ 

The  last  chapter,  enumerating  and  describing  the  kinds  of  meters 
used  in  Spanish,  ends  with  a  statement  which  tends  to  strengthen  the 
reader's  opinion  that  Luzan's  respect  for  the  rules,  though  quite  notice- 
able, was  by  no  means  absolute.  Quoting  Boileau's  "La  rime  est  une 
esclave  et  ne  doit  qu'obeir,"  he  adds  "si  bien  no  es  razon  que  se  detenga 
muy  de  espacio  en  componer  cada  verso  .  .  .  ni  que  vaya,  como  de 
puerta  en  puerta,  llamando  a  cada  una  de  las  reglas  que  hemos  pro- 
puesto."  ^^ 

The  Literary  Criticism  of  Books  I  and  II. — Now  that  we  have 
scanned  the  theoretical  portion  of  the  first  two  books  of  the  "Poetica,"  we 
are  at  liberty  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  passages  dealing  with  actual 
authors.  Let  us  turn  from  Luzan  the  "savant  en  us"  to  Luzan  the  literary 
critic. 

It  is  in  connection  with  his  brief  sketch  of  the  development  of  poetry 
in  the  vulgar  tongues  that  Luzan  begins  to  mention  famous  Spanish  poets 
and  to  express  his  literary  likes  and  dislikes. 

The  literary  movement  which  had  arisen  in  Italy  was  brought  to 
Spain  by  Boscan  and  by  the  Marquis  of  Santillana.     The  work  of  these 

31  Poetica,  p.  143. 

22  Poetica,  ch.  xvi,  xvii,  xix,  xxi,  xxii. 

»3  Poetica,  p.  270. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF    ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  31 

worthy  poets  was  gloriously  crowned  by  the  matchless  poems  of  Garcilaso 
de  la  Vega,  the  prince  of  Castilian  poetry. 

The  untimely  death  of  the  great  lyric  poet  deprived  Spain  of  the  one 
writer  whose  performance,  had  it  been  completed,  would  have  atoned 
for  the  failings  of  those  who  followed  him.  As  it  was,  good  taste  died 
with  him." 

Luzan,  realizing  the  duties  of  the  fearless  critic,  does  not  hesitate  to 
lay  at  the  door  of  Lope  de  Vega  Carpio  and  of  Luis  de  Gongora  the 
responsibility  for  the  sudden  decadence  of  Spanish  literature  in  the 
XVII  century.  To  be  sure  he  is  ready  to  grant  these  writers  much 
natural  genius  and  lyric  fire.  "Gongora  dotado  de  ingenio  y  de  phantasia 
muy  viva.  .  .  .  Lope  a  quien  nadie  puede  con  razon  negar  las  alabanzas 
debidas  a  las  raras  prendas  de  que  le  adorno  Naturaleza,  a  su  feliz  y  vasto 
ingenio,  a  su  natural  facilidad."  Yet  in  spite  of  these  great  gifts,  Gon- 
gora fell  into  a  style  most  florid,  void  of  ideas,  replete  with  extravagant 
metaphors  and  quibbles,  while  Lope  invented  "I  know  not  what  system 
or  method  of  writing  comedies"  which  was  in  absolute  opposition  to  the 
rules  of  sense  and  which  corrupted  the  taste  of  the  common  people.'^ 

To  make  matters  worse,  Gracian  came  with  his  "Agudeza  y  xA.rte 
de  Ingenio."  From  that  time  good  taste  vanished  from  Spain.  The 
grave  and  respectable  literary  genres  were  abandoned.  The  "cancion,"  the 
serious  sonnet,  the  drama,  were  no  longer  in  vogue.  Their  places  were 
taken  by  "coplas,"  "decimas,"  or  "redondillas,"  all  insignificant  lyric 
forms  which,  though  they  were  cultivated  with  undeniable  skill  and  bril- 
liancy, could  never  be  expected  to  represent  the  spirit  of  poetry  in  all  its 
dignity.^'' 

The  other  judgments  given  by  Luzan  occur  in  connection  with  his 
treatment  of  figures  of  speech  and  with  his  attack  on  what  he  considered 
the  greatest  curse  of  Spanish  literature,  that  is  quibbles.* 

In  Chapter  XIV  comes  the  preliminary  statement  that  metaphors  are 
never  lies,  since  the  mind  knows  that  it  must  interpret  them  and  not  take 
them  literally.  To  illustrate  the  nature  of  metaphors  he  quotes  one  from 
Garcilaso : 

"Los  ojos  cuya  lumbre  bien  pudiera 
Tornar  clara  la  noche  tenebrosa 
Y  escurer  el  Sol  a  medio  dia."  ^® 

Though  the  figure  may  seem  a  little  extreme  to  us,  he  remarks  upon 
it  approvingly. 

Wishing  to  illustrate  more   fully,  he  quotes   from   Lope  and   from 


^  Poetica,  v.  I.  ch.  iii. 
«  Poetica,  p.  19. 
»•  Poetica,  p.  150. 


32  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SI'AIN 

Argensola  lines  which  meet  with  his  approval  and  exhibit  the  good  quali- 
ties of  true  lyricism,  lines  very  different  from  those  given  out  by  poets 
who  are  a  prey  to  their  own  disorderly  imagination. 

What  pitfalls  await  such  undisciplined  poets  will  be  shown  clearly 
by  a  study  of  the  nature  of  figures  of  speech. 

The  fundamental  requirement  in  figures  of  speech  is  that  there  must 
be  an  easily  discerned  relationship  between  the  object  embellished  or 
described  and  whatever  it  is  embellished  or  described  by.  Thus  an  arrow 
may  be  said  to  fly,  hope  may  be  called  sweet,  a  passion  unbridled.  As 
soon  as  this- relationship  ceases  to  be  apparent,  then  we  no  longer  have 
a  figure  of  speech,  but  simply  a  piece  of  chaotic  nonsense. ^^ 

Such  an  error  is  not  unfrequent.  Illustrations  of  it  can  be  found  in 
Spanish  authors  past  and  present.  For  instance  Gongora,  wishing  to 
extol  the  rapid  increase  of  the  city  of  Madrid,  says  in  a  sonnet : 

"Que  a  su  menor  inundacion  de  casas 
Ni  aun  los  campos  de  Tajo  estan  seguros."  ^® 

After  condemning  the  lack  of  correspondence  in  the  metaphor  ex- 
pressed in  these  two  lines,  Luzan  quotes  in  full  a  sonnet  written  by  the 
same  author  in  praise  of  Babia's  History  of  the  Popes.  The  parts  of  the 
sonnet  which  according  to  Luzan  are  worthy  of  censure  are  the  following : 

"Este  que  Babia  al  mundo  hoy  ha  ofrecido 
Poema,  sino  a  numeros  atado 
De  la  disposicion  antes  limado 
Y  de  la  erudicion  despues  lamido, 
Historia  es  culta,  cuyo  encanecido 
Estilo,  sino  metrico,  peinado 
Tres  ya  Pilotos  de  el  bajel  sagrado 
Hurta  al  tiempo  y  redima  de  el  olvido. 

Pluma  pues  que  claveros  celestiales 
Eterniza  en  los  bronces  de  su  historia 
Llave  es  ya  de  los  tiempos  y  no  pluma. 

Ella  a  sus  nombres  puertas  immortales 

Abre  no  de  caduca  no,  memoria 

Que  sombras  sella  en  tumulos  de  espuma  ?"  ^* 

Gates  opened  by  means  of  a  pen,  the  play  on  the  words  "limado"  and 
"lamido,"  a  gray-headed  style  which  steals  pilots,  are  conceptions  sur- 
passed in  absurdity  only  by  the  final  words  "Que  sombras  sella  en  tumulos 


3^  Poetica,  pp.  163-164. 
s8  Poetica,  p.  163. 
39  Poetica,  p.  165. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  33 

de  espuma."  This  line,  says  Luzan,  is  so  altisonant,  as  to  make  one  think, 
at  first,  that  it  means  something,  then  that  impression  vanishes,  for  the 
line  is  a  riddle  whose  solution  requires  careful  study.  "Me  rei  muchisimo 
quando  con  algo  de  trabajo  llegue  a  desentraiiarle  el  sentido."  "Sellar 
sombras"  means  to  print,  and  the  foam  referred  to  is  merely  paper  ready 
for  the  press.*" 

His  amusement  soon  turns  to  bitterness  when  he  reflects  upon  the 
fact  that  such  extravagant  expressions  have  won  for  their  perpetrator  the 
title  of  "Principe  de  los  poetas  lyricos,"  usurping  this  title  from  those 
who,  like  Garcilaso,  Lupercio  Leonardo,  or  Herrera  or  Cam5ens  have 
every  right  to  be  crowned  with  it. 

Dealing  with  quibbles  he  quotes  these  lines  from  Calderon : 

"Ardo  y  lloro  sin  sosiego 
Llorando  y  ardiendo  tanto : 
Que  ni  al  fuego  apaga  el  llanto 
Ni  al  llanto  consume  el  fuego."  *^ 

"De  la  misma  estofa  es  otro  concepto  de  Gongora  en  un  soneto  a 
San  Ignacio  : 

"Ardiendo   en   aguas  muertas   llamas   vivas."  *^ 

How  far  below  the  style  of  a  Garcilaso,  or  a  Solis  or  a  Luis  de  Ulloa ! 
Such  exaggerations  ought  to  be  allowed  only  in  burlesque  style  or  on  the 
rare  occasions  when  the  poet  has  to  feign  madness.  As  a  natter  of  fact, 
these  unbearable  absurdities  are  so  admired  that  any  one  criticizing  them 
exposes  himself  to  violent  censure  on  the  part  of  the  untutored  majority. 

Luzan  is  not  frightened  by  this  expected  attack:  he  knows  the 
strength  of  his  position.  The  champions  of  extravagance  will  not  be 
able  to  prove  that  he  is  wrong  while  men  of  sense  and  learning  will 
always  take  up  his  defense. 

Too  great  subtlety  in  thought  and  a  pedantic  display  of  learning  are 
other  faults  which  delight  the  vulgar  and  discredit  poets  in  the  eyes 
of  those  who  know  the  rules  of  serious  literary  criticism.  Lope  on  one 
occasion  was  guilty  of  an  absurd  display  of  technical  terms  of  music. 
This  meant  nothing  as  to  his  real  knowledge  of  that  art.  Either  he  had 
glanced  at  a  text  book  on  the  subject  or  else  he  had  spent  a  half-hour 
chatting  with  a  choir-master.*  Yet  the  average  reader  was  deeply  im- 
pressed by  this  array  of  terms  which  brought  a  smile  to  the  lips  of  those 
possessed  of  the  elements  of  musical  notation. 


<o  Poetica,  p.  166. 
"  Poetica,  p.  173. 
*2  Poetica,  p.  176. 


34  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

To  illustrate  over-subtlety  in  thought  *  Luzan  does  not  have  to 
arouse  the  anger  of  his  countrymen,  for  Muratori  suggests  to  him  these 
rather  indefensible  lines  from  Corneille's  Cid: 

"Pleurez.  pleurez  mes  yeux  et  fondez  vous  en  eau 
La  moitie  de  ma  vie  a  mis  I'autre  au  tombeau 
Et  m'oblige  a  venger,  apres  ce  coup  funeste, 
Celle  que  je  n'ai  plus  sur  celle  qui  me  reste."  *" 

"El  pensar  a  estas  mitades  de  vida,  a  la  mitad  que  murio  en  su  padre 
y  a  la  mitad  que  se  quedo  en  su  amante,  y  que  la  una  mitad  la  obliga  a 
vengar  su  agravio  en  la  otra :  es  pensar  demasiadamente." 

Having  shown  his  broadmindedness  by  censuring  a  writer  who  was 
not  a  Spaniard,  Luzan  further  disarms  his  enemies-to-come  by  finding 
again  good  lines  in  Lope.  This  author,  says  Luzan,  excels  in  the  jocular 
style  as  for  instance  when,  after  describing  with  many  pompous  words 
and  figures,  a  mountain  and  a  waterfall,  he  finally  admits  that : 

",  .  .  en  este  monte  y  liquida  laguna 
Para  decir  verdad  como  hombre  honorado 
Jamas  me  sucedio  cosa  ninguna."  ** 

On  the  whole  these  literary  judgments  leave  us  with  a  much  more 
favorable  opinion  of  the  author's  discretion  than  his  treatment  of  the- 
oretical points.  It  becomes  fairly  evident  that  the  "preceptista"  does  not 
interfere  seriously  with  the  critic.  To  have  uncompromisingly  placed 
Garcilaso  above  Lope  and  Gongora  without  ever  denying  to  these  two 
poets  the  praise  which  they  actually  deserved,  because  of  their  brilliant 
qualities,  was  to  give  evident  proof  of  a  well  balanced  judgment  united 
with  a  keen  esthetic  sense. 

The  Technical  Matter  of  Book  III. — The  third  and  fourth  books 
which  deal  with  the  Drama  and  the  Epic  contain  certain  chapters  which, 
while  they  make  Luzan's  work  a  logical  whole,  are  of  no  practical  value. 
Their  aridity  and  their  mechanical  character  are  such  that  they  had  no 
guiding  influence  on  subsequent  writers.  For  this  reason  we  shall  now 
make  use  of  the  right  which  we  reserved  for  ourselves  to  put  all  such 
matter  in  foot-notes.* 

If  we  follow  the  main  line  of  Luzan's  argument  in  his  treatment  of 
the  drama,  we  shall  find  that  it  resolves  itself  into  two  principles.  First 
comes  the  constant  necessity  of  keeping  in  mind  the  requirements  of 
verisimilitude.  Second  the  necessity  of  a  moral  purpose  in  all  dramatic 
productions. 


*3  Poetica,  p.  198. 
**  Poetica,  p.  232. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF    ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  35 

It  is  in  the  name  of  verisimilitude  that  Luzan  strives  to  give  the  three 
unities  their  most  exacting  definition.  His  insistence  on  strct  adherence 
to  the  unity  of  plot  is  praiseworthy  but  he  loses  our  sympathy  when  we 
are  made  to  read  a  long  argument  to  the  effect  that  a  tragedy  can  repre- 
sent only  an  action  which  in  real  life  would  last  only  the  hours  required 
for  the  performance  of  an  ordinary  play.^^ 

We  grow  still  less  enthusiastic  at  his  suggestion  to  lessen  the  rigid- 
ity of  the  unity  of  place  by  introducing  a  manner  of  medieval  stage 
divided  into  booths  by  either  vertical  or  horizontal  partitions.  By  this 
scheme  authors  would  have  the  choice  of  the  various  rooms  of  a  house 
or  of  adjacent  portions  of  a  city  without  breaking  the  sacred  unity  of 
place.  Such  a  puerile  suggestion  puts  Luzan  the  "preceptista"  in  a  posi- 
tion of  still  greater  inferiority  towards  Luzan  the  literary  critic. 

Other  points  on  which  Luzan  displays  no  great  originality  are  the 
matter  of  excluding  violent  death  scenes  from  the  stage,  the  requiring  of 
unity  of  character  for  the  main  personages  and,  on  the  contrary,  an  ab- 
sence of  distinct  personality  in  the  confidents  or  confidentes.*^ 

On  the  subject  of  diction,  Luzan  talks  as  if  he  were  not  a  poet  him- 
self. He  admits  that  some  form  of  verse  is  required  as  the  medium  of 
dramatic  expression  but  he  condemns  rhyme.  He  is  willing  to  com- 
promise on  the  Spanish  ballad  verse,  which  is  nearly  as  good  as  prose, 
since  it  only  rhymes  in  assonance.  He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  blame 
Christobal  de  Mesa  simply  because  in  his  tragedy  entitled  "Pompeyo" 
"no  solo  estan  dispuestos  los  consonantes  a  modo  de  canciones,  mas 
tambien  hay  tercetos,  octavas,  coplas,  decimas  y  otros  genros  de  rimas 
cuyo  conocido  artificio  se  opone  directamente  a  la  verisimilitud."  *'' 

We  recognize  the  same  prosaic  spirit  in  the  warning  which  Luzan 
gives  in  the  matter  of  costume.  The  garb  of  an  actor  must  be  true  to  life 
but  it  must  respect  the  laws  of  decorum.  If  a  peasant  girl  is  to  appear 
on  the  stage  she  must  be  dressed  in  her  holiday  attire. 

These  rather  trivial  rulings  together  with  more  useful  ones,  as,  for 
instance,  the  recommendation  to  limit  the  number  of  actors  to  a  very 
few,  arise  from  the  same  principle.  Luzan  has  adopted  unconditionally 
the  principle  that  "la  Poesia  dramatica  es  un  engaiio."  By  hook  or  crook 
the  audience  must  be  deceived  into  believing  that  the  imitation  of  life 
presented  to  it  is  life  itself.  "A  esto  miran  todas  las  reglas  que  tanto  se 
encargan  a  los  Poetas  a  cerca  de  la  verisimilitud  de  la  fabula,  de  las  cos- 
tumbres,  de  la  sentencia  y  locucion."  *^ 

*^  Poetica,  ch.  v.  *''  Poetica,  p.  381. 

*6  Poetica,  ch.  x.  *»  Poetica,  p.  395. 


36  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

As  might  be  expected,  the  tragi-comedy  is  condemned  but  we  are 
surprised  to  discover  that  Corneille  is  severely  taken  to  task  for  having 
introduced  this  hermaphroditic  genre.*® 

The  Literary  Criticism  of  Book  III. — We  have  now  reached  the 
point  where  the  technical  and  the  theoretical  matter  of  the  drama  is  ex- 
hausted. The  tragi-comedy  has  been  dealt  with.  The  logical  step  to 
take  next  is  to  study  the  Spanish  Comedia. 

In  treating  the  drama  of  his  country,  as  in  his  discussion  of  lyric 
poetry,  Luzan  gives  proof  of  a  much  better  critical  sense  than  one  might 
have  been  led  to  expect  from  his  handling  of  the  theoretical  side  of  the 
question. 

His  minute  description  of  a  perfectly  mechanical  way  to  construct  a 
plot,^°  his  strict  adherence  to  the  three  unities,  his  begrudging  to  poetry 
the  right  to  have  a  place  in  dramatic  expression,  might  well  have  been 
taken  as  promises  of  a  downright  condemnation  of  the  Comedia. 

It  is  a  pleasant  surprise  to  discover  that,  on  the  contrary,  his  treat- 
ment of  the  Comedia  reveals  a  sympathetic  attitude  towards  the  genre 
and  that  his  praise  of  it,  if  less  detailed,  is  more  sweeping  and  compre- 
hensive than  his  adverse  criticism. 

The  names  of  authors  whom  we  are  accustomed  to  count  among 
the  most  antagonistic  to  any  discipline  come  in  for  a  good  share  of  praise. 
Luzan  indulges  in  the  warmest  praise  of  Lope  de  Vega  for  the  natural 
facility  of  his  style  and  for  his  skill  in  depicting  certain  Spanish  types  and 
customs.  He  admires  Calderon  for  his  skillfully  handled  plots  and  for- 
gives him  his  stylistic  excesses  and  vagaries  to  the  extent  of  saying 
"admiro  la  nobleza  de  su  locucion  que  sin  ser  jamas  obscura,  ni  afectada, 
es  siempre  elegante."  In  such  plays  as  "Primero  soy  yo,"  "Dar  tiempo 
al  tempo,"  "Dicha  y  desdicha  de  nombre,"  "No  hay  burlas  con  el  amor" 
the  critic  finds  much  that  is  worthy  of  praise  and  nothing,  or  practically 
nothing,  deserving  blame.^^  Twice  he  mentions  with  admiration  Moreto's 
"El  Desden  con  el  Desden."*  He  finds  sufficient  respect  for  the  rules  in 
Zamora's  "El  Hechizado  por  fuerza."  Candamo  and  Canizares  also  have 
written  plays  which  put  them  in  the  class  of  authors  to  be  admired. 
Among  the  plays  of  the  last  named  author,  Luzan  mentions  with  partic- 
ular favor  "El  Domine  Lucas"  and  admires  him  for  having  been  one  of 
the  few  Spanish  authors  who  gave  really  comical  qualities  to  their  main 
characters  instead  of  concentrating  all  the  fun-making  in  the  deeds  and 
words  of  the  "gracioso."  * 


49  Poetica,  p.  425. 
^0  See   note   1. 
51  Poetica,  p.  349. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  37 

To  sum  up  then,  there  is  much  that  is  excellent  in  the  Spanish 
Comedia,  and  particularly  in  the  matter  of  plot,  for  Spanish  authors  "se 
han  desempenado  con  bastante  acierto  y  faciHdad  del  enredo  y  solucion  de 
sus  comedias."  To  be  sure,  absolute  praise  of  the  genre  would  be  as 
unjust  as  absolute  condemnation.  In  remarking  upon  the  weak  points 
of  Spanish  plays,  Luzan's  sincere  desire  is  to  come  to  a  fair  and  sane 
judgment  and  to  point  out  which  ones  of  the  rules  can  not  be  infringed 
upon  without  some  loss  in  artistic  effect.  The  danger  of  not  following 
certain  rules  could  be  amply  illustrated  by  the  examination  of  plays 
written  by  others  than  Spanish  authors.  It  so  happens,  however,  that  the 
foreign  drama  is  practically  unknown  in  Spain.  If  Luzan  chooses  all 
his  unfavorable  illustrations  from  the  Spanish  stage,  it  is  not  due  to  any 
unpatriotic  desire  to  attack  his  own  country.  He  does  it  from  a  desire 
to  be  clearly  understood  by  his  countrymen,  showing  them  familiar  *  in- 
stances of  the  errors  incurred  by  writing  without  the  guidance  of  reason. 

The  censure  of  the  Spanish  stage  comes  under  two  headings  as  we 
have  already  stated.  Spanish  comedies  in  many  cases  fail  to  fulfill  the 
moral  requirements  of  good  plays  and  often  they  do  not  respect  the 
dogma  of  verisimilitude. 

First,  then,  from  a  moral  standpoint,  dashing  young  swashbucklers 
and  over-resourceful  lovers  of  both  sexes  are  altogether  too  prominent 
in  Spanish  plays.  The  fencing  skill  of  the  former  and  the  moral  slipperi- 
ness  of  the  latter  are  forever  getting  the  better  of  those  characters  of  the 
play  who  represent  law,  order  and  duty.  A  false  ideal  of  personal 
honor  and  a  plea  for  the  irresponsibility  of  passion  are  thereby  drilled  into 
the  minds  and  imaginations  of  the  spectators ;  that  is,  they  become  part 
and  parcel  of  the  philosophy  of  life  of  the  masses.  To  be  sure,  no  one 
would  object  if  from  time  to  time  playwrights  introduced  "el  character 
de  un  amante  6  de  un  duelista  guapeton  como  otra  qualquiera  especie  de 
costumbres."  "^  But  the  constant  representations  of  such  persons,  not 
shown  in  their  true  light,  but  in  a  blaze  of  glory,  is  downright  wrong. 
Besides  it  is  unartistic  since  all  comedy  heroes,  drawn  as  they  are  from 
just  tw^o  classes  of  human  beings,  are  bound  to  resemble  one  another  like 
twin  brothers.*  Why  not  try  to  introduce  other  characters  such  as  the 
"miles  gloriosus,"  the  miser,  the  jolly  friar?  Thus  Lope,  Calderon, 
Moreto,  Solis,  and  many  others,  in  spite  of  other  excellent  qualities,  sin 
heavily  against  morality  and  art.  To  show  that  he  is  defending  a  uni- 
versal principle  and  not  merely  trying  to  find  fault  with  his  countrymen, 
Luzan  censures  severely  the  lines  in  which  Boileau  defends  love  plots: 

^^  Poetica,  p.  375.  / 


38  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

Je  ne  suis  pas  pourtant  de  ces  tristes  esprits 
Qui  banissant  Tamour  de  tous  chastes  ecrits  . 
D'un  si  riche  ornement  veulent  priver  la  scene 
Traitant  d'empoisonneurs  et  Rodrigue  et  Chimene. 
L'amour  le  moins  honnete  exprime  chastement 
N 'excite  point  en  nous  de  honteux  mouvement.^^ 

Far  from  sympathizing  with  such  easy  going  moraHty,  Luzan,  were 
it  in  his  power,  would  have  a  national  censor  appointed  by  the  govern- 
ment so  that  no  play  could  be  presented  to  the  public  without  having  first 
been  approved  by  a  competent  judge.* 

Only  one  type  of  play  seemed  to  Luzan  still  more  dangerous  than 
"comedias"  based  on  themes  of  uUra-romantic  love,  and  that  was  the 
Autos  Sacramentales.  These  performances,  Luzan  tells  us,  brought  dis- 
credit on  the  sacred  subjects  which  formed  in  part  the  matter  of  their 
plots.  They  debased  holy  themes  by  mingling  with  them  love  intrigues,  ex- 
hibitions of  vanity  and  witticisms  of  doubtful  decency.  Worst  of  all,  the 
authors  of  Autos  were  not  satisfied  with  orthodox  miracles,  but  they  man- 
ufactured marvelous  tales  out  of  whole  cloth.  The  result  was  that  the 
common  people  in  their  ignorance  came  to  believe  in  these  new-fangled 
miracles  with  as  much  reverence  as  if  they  were  drawn  from  the  Holy 
Scriptures.* 

This  completes  Luzan's  remarks  on  the  need  of  a  moral  reform  of 
the  Spanish  stage. 

The  other  criticisms,  though  not  arising  from  such  a  high  principle 
as  the  desire  to  save  the  nation  from  growing  immorality,  are  nevertheless 
much  to  the  point. 

He  repeats  his  plea  for  clear,  simple,  direct  style  and  he  shows  how 
desirable  those  same  qualities  would  be  if  applied  to  plot.  If  "comedias" 
are  to  be  artistic  and  useful  their  intrigues  must  be  first  of  all  such  as  to 
be  easily  understood  and  instantly  recognized  as  of  possible  occurence  in 
real  life. 

Who  will  believe  in  the  possibility  of  the  stories  which  are  the  basis 
of  Lope's  "El  Perro  del  Hortelano"  and  "El  Ramillete  de  Madrid"?  In 
the  first  "comedia"  a  lady  falls  in  love  with  a  servant  and  makes  no  effort 
to  hide  her  passion,  in  the  second  a  gentleman  serves  as  a  gardener  on  the 
estate  of  a  high-born  lady.  In  Moreto's  "Todo  es  enredos  amor,"  the 
heroine,  Dofia  Elena,  wishing  to  spy  on  her  lover's  private  life,  leaves  for 
Salamanca,  dressed  as  a  student,  and,  in  the  course  of  the  action,  imper- 
sonates no  fewer  than  three  different  characters.  "iEn  qual  de  estos 
casos  se  divisa  algun  rastro  de  verisimilitud?    iQual  de  ellos  puede  ser 

sspoetica,  p.  368. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  39 

espejo  de  la  vida  humana?"  Such  happenings  have  never  taken  place  in 
Spain.  To  relate  them  is  as  futile  an  undertaking  as  to  try  to  compose  a 
useful  play  on  mythological  subjects  which  have  lost,  together  with  their 
allegorical  meaning,  their  power  to  point  out  a  moral.'* 

In  dealing  with  the  application  of  the  three  unities,  Luzan  finds  a 
rich  field  for  criticism  of  the  most  adverse  type.  The  Spanish  Comedia 
having  so  often  drawn  its  plots  from  the  tales  of  the  Italian  Renaissance, 
from  the  romances  of  chivalry  or  from  medieval  chronicles,  paid  no 
attention  to  these  rules.  Luzan  can  easily  gather  a  formidable  list  of 
plays  possessed  of  enormous  defects.  Lope's  "La  locura  por  la  honra" 
contains  three  actions ;  there  are  cases  of  comedies  concentrating  in  a 
few  hours  the  deeds  and  happenings  of  three,  nine,  twenty  and  even 
two  hundred  years ;  others  take  the  spectator  on  flying  trips  through  a 
half-dozen  countries,  the  characters  "andando  con  gran  frescura  y  sin 
cansancio  algunos  centenares  de  leguas."  * 

Added  to  such  unartistic  elements  are  the  countless  remnants  of 
medieval  fancy  or  ignorance  which  the  Comedia  has  cherished  and 
saved  from  well  deserved  oblivion.  "Yo  he  oido  no  sin  muclia  risa  nom- 
brar  el  conde  Antenor,  al  conde  Eneas  en  la  Comedia  de  'Hector  y 
Achilles'  de  no  se  que  autor."  ^^  References  to  gunpowder  in  plays  dealing 
with  antiquity,  stories  of  men  sailing  across  the  sea  on  their  shields,  and 
the  grossest  errors  in  geography  complete  the  arraignment  of  the 
Comedia.'^  "Pareceme  que  los  exemplos  propuestos  bastaran  para  aviso 
de  los  Poetas  que  de  hoy  mas  quisieren  aplicarse  a  escribir  segun  las 
reglas  y  con  el  debido  miramiento."  * 

We  have  now  reviewed  the  favorable  and  the  unfavorable  criticisms 
of  Luzan  on  the  Comedia.  With  the  exception  of  some  of  the  remarks 
on  what  constitutes  a  probable  plot,  his  judgments  seem  just  and  in- 
telligent. The  points  of  which  he  can  not  approve  are  precisely  those 
which  shock  the  modern  reader.  What  he  praises  is  also  what  meets  with 
universal  approval.  No  one  can  seriously  admire  the  extravagance  of 
plot  and  language  which  so  often  disfigures  the  plays  of  even  the  best 
authors,  and  yet  no  one  can  deny  the  admirable  qualities  of  these  com- 
positions when  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  dash  and  vivacity  of  plot 
or  brilliancy  of  diction. 

The  following  sentence  from  Luzan,  while  defining  his  attitude  on 
the  matter,  expresses  also  the  modern  opinion  on  the  Comedia:  "Si  los 
que  absolutamente  y  sin  excepcion  condenan  las  Comedias  se  dejan  llevar 
de  un  zelo  excesivo,  los  que  en  ella  aprueban  indistintamente  los  amores 


5*  Poetica,  p.  416. 
^^  Poetica,  p.  421. 


40  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

y  argumentos  perniciosos  como  el  unico  y  mas  divertido  asunto  de  el 
Theatro,  se  dejan  sin  duda  llevar  de  una  licencia  desreglada."  ^^ 

Book  IV. — There  is  nothing  in  the  fourth  book  of  the  Poetica  which 
can  shed  any  further  light  on  Luzan  as  a  critic.  It  is  a  purely  didactic 
discussion  of  the  Epic*  In  it,  Luzan  simply  follows  the  treatise  of 
Father  Le  Bossu.  It  would  be  an  unprofitable  task  to  study  the  definition 
of  the  Epic,  and  it  would  be  futile  to  discuss  whether  or  not  Homer  and 
Virgil,  in  the  composition  of  their  great  works,  followed  the  altogether 
unassailable  method  given  by  Le  Bossu  for  the  composition  of  perfect 
plots.  Rather  let  us  pass  to  the  more  vital  question  of  the  way  in  which 
the  "Arte  Poetica"  of  Luzan  was  received  in  Spain. 

Judgments  Passed  on  the  Poetica. — The  opinion  which  is  sometimes 
expressed  that  Luzan  attacked  the  writers  of  his  country  in  a  spirit  of 
narrowness  and  extreme  prejudice  is  as  wrong  as  that  which  implies  that 
Luzan  was  fighting  a  stupendous  fight  single-handed. 

Official  Judgments. — The  attitude  of  mind  of  the  men  who  wrote  the 
"Aprobacion"  and  the  "Critica"  of  the  "Poetica,"  two  documents  required 
by  law  to  be  prefixed  to  every  new  book,  and  the  judgments  of  the  critics 
who  had  founded  the  "Diario  de  los  Literatos"  shows  that,  besides  Luzan, 
there  were  in  Spain  intelligent  men  who  fully  appreciated  the  real  qual- 
ities and  the  real  defects  of  Spanish  literature. 

The  "Aprobacion"  written  by  one  Fr.  Miguel  Navarro  states  that  in 
the  "Poetica,"  the  blame  cast  upon  many  authors  is  compensated  by  the 
praise  which  these  same  writers  receive  in  various  parts  of  the  work.* 
The  author  of  the  "Censura,"  Fr.  Manuel  Gallinero,  brings  up  the 
case  of  Moliere  who  had  plenty  of  genius  and  little  reverence  for  the 
rules  of  Aristotle.  It  is  clear  that  this  reviewer  does  not  altogether  agree 
with  Luzan  on  the  usefulness  of  applying  the  "esprit  de  geometric"  to 
literature,  but  his  attitude  is  in  no  way  hostile,  for  he  ends  his  remarks 
by  admitting  that,  in  all  cases,  the  author's  criticisms  were  meant  "no 
para  golpear,  sino  precisamente  para  medir." 

The  Diario' s  Review  of  the  Poetica. — The  "Diario,"*  a  literary  review, 
which  we  shall  take  up  more  in  detail  presently,  gave  an  impartial  resume 
of  the  "Poetica"  and  admitted  that  it  had  filled  a  long  felt  want  in  Spanish 
literature.  "De  ningiin  escrito  tenia  mas  necesidad  nuestra  Espana  que 
de  una  entera  y  cabal  Poetica."  '^^  The  mighty  nation  of  the  Poets  had 
gone  too  long  with  no  other  guide  than  its  fancy ;  all  critics  until  this  one 
had  been  altogether  too  lenient. 

8«  Poetica,  p.  2i7Z. 

"^  Diario,  v.  IV,  art.  1. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  41 

This  favorable  statement  which  began  the  review  of  the  "Diario"  was 
followed  by  others  not  quite  so  flattering. 

First  of  all  it  struck  the  "Diario"  that  Luzan  was  too  hard  on  Lope 
in  the  matter  of  the  "Arte  Nuevo  de  Hacer  Comedias."  By  emphasizing 
those  parts  where  Lope  seems  to  praise  the  rules  and  by  dismissing  as 
clever  "boutades"  the  cases  where  he  appears  to  condemn  them,  the  "Dia- 
rio" tried  to  reconcile  Lope  with  literary  orthodoxy.  It  dwelt  at  length 
on  the  tyrannical  powers  of  the  mob  in  the  seventeenth  century  audiences 
and  insinuated  that  Lope  did  not  take  his  plays  seriously  since  he  had 
written  them  merely  as  a  sop  to  satisfy  the  demand  of  the  illiterate  "patio" 
for  the  romanesque. 

Far  from  accusing  Lope  of  having  written  his  "Arte  Nuevo"  in 
defense  of  his  own  plays  it  would  be  more  nearly  right  to  consider  that 
work  a  disguised  way  of  criticizing  "comedias."  "Su  obra  en  realidad 
mas  es  'Arte  nuevo  de  criticar  comedias'  que  de  hacerlas."  '^ 

The  argument  would  therefore  tend  to  put  Lope  and  Luzan  in  the 
same  literary  school,  and  ingenious  as  the  reasoning  is,  it  fails  to  carry 
conviction  with  it. 

What  is  decidedly  amusing  is  the  solemn  way  in  which  the  "Diario" 
censures  Luzan  for  not  having  picked  his  illustrations  from  the  six  plays 
which  Lope  confesses  having  written  in  accordance  with  the  rules.* 
Had  Luzan  been  able  to  detect  errors  in  any  one  of  these  six  plays,  then 
indeed  he  would  have  scored  a  victory.  He  would  have  proved  that  Lope 
did  not  possess  the  knowledge  necessary  to  write  a  regular  play,  since 
his  best  efiforts  were  faulty. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Luzan  was  not  to  blame  in  the  matter.  To 
suspect  him  of  having  neglected  to  make  use  of  an  easy  way  to  justify 
the  Spanish  stage  in  the  eyes  of  foreign  neo-classic  critics,  was  as  much 
as  accusing  him  of  high  treason.  Had  the  plays  been  known  to  him  he 
would  certainly  have  made  use  of  them. 

The  facts  of  the  case  are  that  Lope  had  never  given  out  the  names 
of  those  six  Aristotelian  daughters  of  his  brain.  Whether  Luzan  tried 
hard  or  not  at  all  to  find  these  plays  is  not  known.  What  is  known  is 
that,  for  fully  a  half  a  century  after  Luzan,  Spanish  scholars  made  every 
effort  to  discover  plays  written  according  to  the  rules  and  all  these 
accumulated  efforts  never  succeeded  in  crediting  Lope  with  a  single 
regular  drama. 

No  doubt  then  that  the  editors  of  the  "Diario"  threw  out  this  sug- 
gestion because  it  fitted  well  in  their  argument,  not  realizing  the  impossi- 
bility of  giving  it  any  practical  application. 

Taking  up  Luzan's  study  of  the  poem  of  Gongora  which  in  the  crit- 

"8  Diario,  v.  IV,  p.  86. 


42  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

ic's  mind  typified  the  worst  that  was  to  be  found  from  the  standpoint  of 
extravagance  of  language,  the  "Diario"  found  again  that  the  judgments 
expressed  were  too  harsh. "^ 

The  reviewer  claimed  that  the  expression  "claveros  celestiales"  was 
an  adequate  and  dignified  metaphor,  since  it  had  been  used  by  Christ 
who  said  to  Saint  Peter  "Tibi  dabo  claves  regni  coelorum."  It  was  a  per- 
fectly reasonable  way  of  referring  to  the  Popes.  Following  this  state- 
ment came  a  paraphrase  of  the  sonnet  showing  how  every  concept  could 
be  made  to  fit  into  a  rational  whole  of  easy  comprehension.  To  be  sure 
the  last  two  lines  needed  elucidation  as  Luzan's  explanation  did  not  suit 
the  reviewer.  Unfortunately  the  new  explanation  of  the  "puzzling"  passage 
is  about  as  obscure  as  the  passage  itself.  We  leave  the  discussion  feeling 
that,  if  Luzan  was  too  severe  in  comdemning  the  poem  as  a  whole,  the 
writer  of  the  essay  reviewing  Luzan  failed  disastrously  in  picking  out 
any  flaw  in  his  interpretation  of  the  last  two  lines  of  the  sonnet.* 

The  probable  cause  of  this  opposition  to  the  literary  judgments  of 
Luzan  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  author  of  the  review  failed  to  realize  that 
Luzan  judged  literary  works  quite  independently  of  the  Aristotelian 
code.  Luzan's  critics  feared  that  if  he  agreed  heartily  with  what  was  said 
in  the  "Poetica"  about  Lope  and  Gongora,  he  would  in  a  way  be  taking 
an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  rules,  since  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  rules  had 
dictated  the  opinions  expressed  about  these  authors. 

This  hostility  towards  precepticism  "per  se"  again  makes  its  appear- 
ance when  the  reviewer  proceeds  to  defend  the  tragi-comedy,  anticipating 
the  critics  of  the  Romantic  School  by  making  the  statement  that  life 
itself  is  a  mingling  of  the  tragic  and  the  comic.  He  also  attacks  the 
really  very  narrow  interpretation  given  by  Luzan  to  the  unities,  particu- 
larly to  that  of  time,  for  he  has  no  sympathy  with  those  parts  of  the 
Aristotelian  doctrine  which  simply  tend  to  choke  genius.  His  attitude 
towards  the  rules  is  free  from  any  superstitious  respect.  "Las  reglas 
dramaticas  no  son  mas  que  fueros  particulares  del  genio  y  gusto  de  cada 
siglo  y  de  cada  nacion  como  lo  acredita  la  historia  del  theatro  antiguo  y 
moderno.®" 

This  of  course  is  in  absolute  opposition  to  the  opinion  of  Luzan,  who, 
as  we  remember,  had  begun  his  "Poetica"  by  proving  to  his  own  satisfac- 
tion the  universal  and  eternal  character  of  the  rules. 

The  impression  derived  from  all  this  is  that  the  writer  of  the  "Dia- 
rio's"  review  was  not  as  different  from  Luzan  in  his  critical  opinions  as  he 
believed  he  was.   Only  he  was  not  one  of  those  minds  who  feel  it  imperative 

59  Diario,  v.  IV,  p.  97. 
«"  Diario,  v.  IV,  p.  106. 


REINTRODUCTION   OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  43 

to  connect,  somehow  or  other,  their  intuitive  judgments  with  a  definite 
set  of  rules  rationally  evolved.  No  more  than  Luzan  was  he  ready  to 
praise  the  school  of  Gongora.  "Con  la  defensa  de  los  referidos  puntos 
en  que  Lope  6  Gongora  no  deben  la  mas  favorable  censura  al  Sefior 
Luzan ;  no  se  pretende  canonizar  generalmente  todo  lo  que  han  escrito 
estos  dos  celebres  Poetas,  ni  condenar  tampoco,  todos  los  juicios  que  sobre 
la  calidad  de  sus  obras  y  caracter  de  sus  conceptos  forma  nuestro  Autor : 
no  pudiendo  negarse  que  muchas  de  ellas  son  hijas  de  la  mas  sana  critica 
y  muy  conducentes  al  desengafio  publico."  ®^  Later  the  critic  praises 
Luzan  for  the  excellence  of  his  judgment  in  the  selection  of  the  majority 
of  his  illustrations,  for  the  clearness  and  the  amenity  of  his  style. 

Let  us  say  it  again,  fundamentally  the  two  men  agree:  there  only 
remains  this  difference,  namely,  that  Luzan,  partly  out  of  a  natural  bent 
towards  argumentation,  partly  out  of  policy,  wished  to  connect  taste  with 
logic  at  least  theoretically.  His  reviewer  did  not  see  clearly  how  slight 
was  the  connection  between  Luzan's  theory  and  his  practice.* 

Luzan' s  Reply. — Under  the  anagram  of  Don  Ifiigo  de  Lanuza,  Luzan 
published  a  pamphlet  of  some  150  pages  to  reply  to  the  criticisms  of  the 
"Diario."  *  It  is  merely  a  restatement  of  the  points  criticised  by  the 
"Diario."  Luzan  stands  by  the  judgments  to  which  he  had  given  utterance 
in  the  "Poetica."  He  cites  more  authorities  and  in  a  case  or  two  points  out 
an  error  made  by  the  reviewer.*  Nothing  new  is  brought  out  by  this  paper 
so  far  as  facts  or  theory  are  concerned.  What  is  noticeable  is  the  tone  of 
perfect  affability  which  rules  the  style  of  this  little  discussion.  There  is 
no  display  of  wit  at  the  expense  of  the  opponent,  nor  is  anger  shown,  but 
everywhere  courtesy,  directness  and  sincerity  prevail. 

Luzan  is  so  far  from  having  been  ruffled  by  the  criticism  of  the 
"Diario,"  that  he  thanks  the  author  of  the  review  for  the  mildness  of  his 
remarks,  deploring  that  such  courtesy  is  not  shown  to  the  editors  of  the 
"Diario."  *  He  goes  even  farther  in  his  desire  to  treat  the  "Diario"  fairly. 
Though  he  does  not  give  in  on  any  of  the  arguments  in  question,  he  ad- 
mits that  perhaps  his  thrusts  at  Lope  have  been  too  many  and  too  sharp. 
His  excuse  is  the  novelty  of  the  attempt.  His  criticism  attacked  the  works 
of  Lope  in  the  spirit  of  a  soldier  who,  sword  in  hand,  enters  a  long  be- 
sieged city.  "En  el  calor  de  esta  accion  no  era  facil  contener  tan  a  raya 
las  expressiones  y  voces  que  alguna  no  exceda  tal  vez  algun  tanto  6  en  el 
objeto  6  en  el  modo."  ^^ 

To  be  sure  a  petty  mind  might  easily  have  found  several  occasions 
for  bitter  retorts  to  the  remarks  of  the  "Diario."  but  Luzan  was  a  man 


«i  Diario.  v.  IV,  p.  99. 
«2  Discurso  Ap.,  p.  75. 


44  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

gifted  with  plenty  of  g-enerosity  and  good  sense.  He  was  broad-minded 
enough  to  see  that  the  cause  for  which  the  "Diario"  had  been  founded 
was  the  very  one  for  which  he  himself  had  published  his  "Poetica"  and 
that,  in  spite  of  a  few  superficial  differences,  the  "Diaristas"  were  his  most 
capable  allies.* 

The  Influence  of  the  Poctica. — Before  taking  up  more  in  detail  the 
study  of  the  "Diario,"  let  us  say  just  a  few  words  on  the  matter  of  the 
influence  of  the  "Poetica"  of  Luzan. 

We  stated,  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  that  the  influence  of 
Luzan's  book  had  been  unequaled  in  directing  the  neo-classic  movement. 
This  opinion  has  been  defended  with  as  much  vigor  as  it  has  been  at- 
tacked. Ticknor  on  one  hand  and  Quintana  on  the  other  present  the  most 
widely  divergent  views.  According  to  the  American  scholar  the  "Poetica" 
was  a  great  power  in  the  neo-classic  movement,  a  power  so  great  that  its 
influence  can  scarcely  be  overestimated.®^  Quintana  on  the  other  hand 
states  that  the  book  was  little  read  and  promptly  forgotten.* 

Of  these  two  opinions  it  would  seem  that  Ticknor  is  nearer  the  truth. 
Quintana  is  undoubtedly  right  in  saying  that  the  "Poetica"  was  little  read, 
but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  men  who  did  peruse  the  work  of 
Luzan  were  precisely  the  men  who  were  in  the  forefront  of  the  neo-classic 
movement  and  to  them  the  "Poetica"  became  the  great  source  from  which 
could  be  drawn  the  ideas  and  the  facts  necessary  to  the  defense  and  devel- 
opment of  their  cause.  It  may  be  said,  without  exaggeration,  that  the 
neo-classic  movement  is  the  slow  but  sure  diffusion  of  the  principles  of 
the  "Poetica"  throughout  the  various  classes  of  Spanish  society. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  11. 

p.  23.  For  life  of  Luzan  see  "Alemorias  de  la  Vida  de  Don  Ignacio  de 
Luzan  escritas  per  su  hijo  Don  Juan  de  Luzan,"  B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXL  Also  Menendez  y 
Pelayo,  Ideas  Esteticas,  v.  V,  pp.  169-205. 

P.  24.  The  full  title  is,  "La  Poetica  6  Reglas  de  la  Poesia  en  general  y  de 
Sus  Principales  Especies,  Por  Don  Ignacio  de  Luzan,  Claramunt  de  Suelves  y 
Gurrea,  Entre  los  Academicos  Ereinos  de  Palermo,  llamado  Egidio  Menalipo," 
Zaragoza,  1737.  All  references  are  to  this  first  edition  of  the  "Poetica."  A  second 
edition  appeared  in  1789  given  out  by  Antonio  de  Sancha.  The  editor  of  this 
second  edition  introduced  various  changes  which  make  it  less  useful  to  those  who 
wish  to  study  Luzan  himself. 

P.  25.  Poetica,  p.  3.  ".  .  .  esta  necia  presumpcion  que  a  ella  como  a  una  de 
las  principales  causas  puede  con  razon  atribuirse  la  corrupcion  de  la  Poesia  de  el 
siglo  pasado,  particularmente  en  lo  que  toca  al  Theatro.    No  digo  que  para  formar 


*3  Note  page  74. 


REINTRODUCTION    OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  45 

uii  perfecto  Poeta,  no  sea  absolutamente  necessario  el  ingenio  y  natural  talento, 
ptro  digo  con  Horacio  que  eso  solo  no  basta  sin  el  Arte  y  estudio,  y  que  el 
compuesto  tan  feliz,  como  raro  de  arte  e  ingenio,  de  estudio  y  de  naturaleza  es 
el  que  solo  puede  hacer  un  Poeta  digno  de  tal  nombre  y  del  aplauso  comun." 

P.  25.  Poetica,  p.  6.  "Lo  qual  dio  motivo  a  las  indecorosas  expressiones  con- 
que  el  P.  Bouhours  en  sus  dialogos  de  Aristo  y  Eugenio,  habla  de  el  estilo  de 
nuestra  Nacion." 

P.  27.  Menendez  y  Pelayo.  Ideas  Esteticas,  v.  V,  p.  169.  "De  los  Franceses 
unicamente  cita — Lamy,  Boileau,  Rapin,  Dacier,  Le  Bossu,  Corneille,  Crousaz."  As 
a  matter  of  fact  Luzan  cites  only  two  more  Italian  authors  than  he  does  French- 
men. His  Italian  sources  come  from  the  works  of  Muratori,  Vettori,  Benio,  Min- 
turno,  Gravina,  Monsignani,  Orsi,  Crescimbeni,  Quaradrio.  The  proportion  is  9:7 
and  the  whole  of  the  last  book  is  drawn  from  Le  Bossu  so  that  Menendez  y 
Pelayo's  argument  does  not  seem  well  founded. 

P.  27.  Poetica,  p.  39.  "Comunmente  por  esta  misma  razon  con  expresiva  meta- 
phora  llamase  la  Poesia,  Pintura  de  los  oidos  y  la  Pintura  Poesia  de  los  ojos." 

P.  27.  Poetica,  ch.  viii.  De  la  Imitacion  de  lo  Universal  y  de  lo  Particular. 
Imitation  classified  under  the  two  headings :  Icastica — lo  particular.  Phantastica — lo 
Universal.  The  latter  a  better  help  to  morality  than  the  former.  Seem  to  corre- 
spond to  realism  and  idealism. 

P.  29.  Poetica.  "Esto  Viene  a  ser  lo  mismo  que  los  maestros  de  Poetica 
llaman  mejorar  6  perficionar  la  Naturaleza  y  lo  que  nosotros  hemos  dicho  imitar  la 
Naturaleza  en  lo  Universal." 

P.  31.  Poetica,  p.  171.  "El  mayor  y  mas  pernicioso  error  que  la  Phantasia 
puede  cometer  si  no  la  guia  y  rige  el  juicio  es  el  que  ahora  voi  a  explicar  .  .  .  when 
figure  used  does  not  equate  with  the  tangible  or  specific  object  described.  Esto 
sucede  siempre  que  la  Phantasia  argumenta  de  lo  Metaphorico  a  lo  propio  y  de 
un  sentido  equivoco  saca  un  sophismo." 

P.  33.  Poetica,  p.  204.  "No  hay  cosa  mas  bella  que  la  luz  y  el  continuar  a  mi- 
rarla  fijamente  por  un  rato  cansa  la  vista  y  aun  la  ciega  si  es  muy  fuerte  y  muy  viva 
su  brillantez.  No  de  otra  suerte  las  sentencias  morales  y  las  demas  Reflexiones 
Ingeniosas  cansan  y  enfundan  quando  son  muy  continuas.  And  again,  p.  212,  la 
demasiada  sutileza  de  los  pensamientos  y  de  la  locucion  no  sirve  de  otra  cosa  que 
de  fatigar  y  atarear  inutilmente  al  Poeta  y  a  su  Lector." 

P.  34.  Poetica,  p.  73.  "Bien  se  echa  de  ver  que  todo  esto  no  le  costo  gran  f  atiga 
al  Autor  pues  bastaba  aver  leido  algun  libro  que  tratasse  de  Musica  6  aver  tenido 
un  rato  de  conversacion  con  un  Maestro  de  Capilla.  Pero  qualquiera  hombre  de 
juicio  se  reira  de  semejante  doctrina." 

P.  34.  Bk.  Ill,  ch.  i.  Del  Origen,  Progressos  y  Definicion  de  la  Tragedia. 
Tragedia  es  una  presentacion  Dramatica  de  una  grande  mudanza  de  fortuna  acae- 
cida  a  Reyes,  Principes,  y  Personages  de  gran  calidad  y  dignidad  cuyas  caidas, 
muertes,  disgracias,  y  peligros  exciten  terror  y  compassion  en  las  animas  del  audi- 
torio  y  los  curen  y  purgucn  de  estas  y  otras  passiones  sirviendo  de  exemplo  y 
escarmiento  a  todos  pero  especialmente  a  los  Reyes  y  Sl  las  personas  de  mayor 
autoridad  y  poder.  Ch.  ii.  De  la  Fabula  en  general.  Ch.  iii.  Del  modo  de 
formar  una  fabula.— Le  Bossu— pick  out  a  lesson  to  be  taught,  then  fit  a 
story  to  it  which  will  be  at  once  "universal,  imitada,  fingida  y  ale- 
gorica."     Luzan   prefers    finding   a   story   first,   then   making   its    moral   teaching 


46  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT   IN   SPAIN 

evident.  Ch.  iv.  De  la  integridad  y  otras  condiciones  de  la  Fibula — beginning, 
middle  and  end  necessary.  Ch.  v.  On  unities.  Ch.  vi.  De  la  Fibula — Simple 
and  complex. — Complex  plots  preferred — must  contain  Peripecia  y  Agnicion. 
Characters  taking  part  may  be  good,  or  bad  or  indifferent.  This  gives  six  possi- 
bilities of  which  the  following  do  not  fit  the  requirements  of  tragedy :  1.  Good 
becoming  unfortunate.  2.  Bad  being  fortunate.  In  spite  of  No.  1,  Corneille's 
Polyeucte  has  received  great  applause.  Also  possible  actions  among  friends, 
enemies  and  neutrals.  Victim  may  be  known  or  unknown,  crime  committed  or 
intended.  Ch.  vii.  On  episodes.  Must  rise  from  main  plot.  Ch.  viii.  De  el 
enredo.  Ch.  ix.  De  las  Passiones  Trigicas.  Deaths  related  not  acted  out.  Ch. 
X.  Unity  of  character.  Ch.  xi.  Verisimilitude  in  Speech.  Ch.  xii.  Plea  for 
ttained  actors,  few  characters.  Ch.  xiii.  Five  acts,  no  good  reason.  Ch.  xiv. 
and  XV.     On  the  Comedia. 

P.  36.  Poetica,  p.  411.  "El  Desden  con  el  Desden  .  .  .  escritas  con  singular 
acierto  y  muy  conforme  a  las  reglas  de  la  Poesia  dramitica."  Also,  p.  293,  remarks 
to  the  effect  that  "El  Desden,"  etc.,  has  a  logically  constructed  plot. 

P.  36.  Poetica,  p.  412.  "Costumbres  bien  pintadas  y  mantenidas  hasta  el  fin — 
graciosidad  en  la  accion  misma  y  en  las  personas  principales." 

P.  Z7.  Poetica,  p.  410.  Everybody  in  Spain  knows  the  Comedies,  while  few 
know  foreign  works.  "Fuera  de  que  el  corregir  nosotros  mismos  nuestros  yerros  es 
ganar  de  la  mano  y  hacer  en  cierto  modo  menos  sensibles  y  menos  afrentosos  los 
baldones  de  los  extranjeros.  Y  ademis  de  todo  esto  supuesto  que  los  comicos 
Espanoles  han  podido  errar  porque  no  eran  impecables;  razon  sera  que  alguna  vez 
saiga  a  campo  abierto  la  verdad  al  oposito  de  la  lisonja  y  del  engafio." 

P.  Z7.  Poetica,  p.  365.  "Todos  los  Galanes  de  nuestras  Comedias  han  de  ser 
precisamente  enamorados  y  valientes ;  bastando  para  lo  primero  un  retrato  con  quien 
immediatamente  hacen  extremos  de  apasionados  y  de  ciegos;  y  para  lo  segundo 
una  palabra  6  un  acaso  el  mas  leve  que  luego  los  hace  entrar  a  ciegas  en  los 
empenos  de  Caballeros  andantes." 

P.  38.  Poetica,  p.  Z77.  He  puts  in  a  plea  for  government  censors  of  comedies : 
"sujetos  eruditos  y  entendidos  de  la  Poetica  y  de  todas  sus  reglas."  This  idea  was 
put  into  application  in  latter  part  of  the  century.  He  bases  his  plea  on  Mariana, 
Bk.  HI  De  Rege  et  Regis  institutione,  ch.  xvi. 

P.  38.  Poetica,  p.  416.  This  is  the  first  attack  of  the  Neo-classic  school  on  the 
Autos.  N.  F.  Moratin,  taking  up  the  same  idea,  was  to  bririg  about  the  inter- 
diction of  the  genre.  Luzin  had  said  "por  lo  irreverente  y  dafioso  no  me  parece 
que  se  pueden  tampoco  aprobar  las  Comedias  de  Santos  de  que  hai  tan  gran 
numero  en  Espana;  si  alguna  utilidad  tienen  tales  comedias  es  tan  poca  que  no 
tiene  comparacion  con  los  graves  danos  que  causan." 

P.  39.  Poetica,  p.  419.  "Bernardo  de  el  Carpio  del  Conde  de  Saldana  y  otras 
han  servido  por  esto  de  burla  y  mofa  a  un  critico  Frances."  Ref.  of  course  to 
Boileau's  "Un  rimeur  sans  peril,"  etc.  Other  plays  with  vast  unity  of  time :  Geni- 
zaro  de  Ungria — 20  years,  Siete  Infantes  de  Lara — 20,  Los  Siete  Durmientes — 200 
years.  "Otros  hai  que  hacen  una  Comedia  de  una  Cronica  entera;  yo  la  he  visto  de 
la  perdida  de  Espana  y  restauracion  de  ella." 

P.  39.  Poetica,  pp.  419-423.  In  "El  Alcizar  de  el  Secreto"  of  Solis,  Sigis- 
mundo  sails  from  — "las  costas  de  Epiro,  sirviendole  de  bajel  el  escudo.  .  .  .  llego  a 
la  isla  de  Chipre."  Also  lovers  do  not  hide  their  identity  sufficiently  and,  as  for  writ- 


REINTRODUCTION    OF   ARISTOTELIAN    RULES  47 

ten  passages  and  portraits,  Candamo  said  very  well  of  them — "que  tienen  dureza  in- 
tratable."  Also  attack  on  songs  whose  words  correspond  too  well  with  the  dialogue 
of  a  scene.  Also  oracles  interrupting  the  play  from  within — "adivinando  lo  que 
iba  a.  decir  el  que  representa  de  la  misma  estofa  son  Ecos  y  el  hablar  en  Suenos," 
and  as  bad  as  any  of  these  the  speaking  of  two  actors  who  are  not  supposed  to 
know  of  each  other's  presence  and  yet  speak  so  as  to  supplement  each  other's  dia- 
logue perfectly.    Illustration  from  Calderon's  "Mujer  llora  y  venceras" : 

Federico.    Desta  miisica  guiado. 

Enrique.    Llamado  de  estos  acentos. 

Federico.     Vengo  a  pesar  de  enojo. 

Enrique.     A  pesar  de  ira  vuelvo. 

Federico.     De  Madona  porque  juzgo  .  .  . 

Enrique.     De  Madona  porque  pienso  .  .  .  etc. 
"Pero  esto  mas  parece  rezar  a  coros,  que  salir  a  representar  una  Comedia."    L.  F. 
Moratin  was  to  ridicule  this  practice  in  "La  Comedia  Nueva." 

P.  40.  Bk.  IV  consists  of  the  following  chapters :  I.  De  la  Naturaleza  y 
Definicion  del  Poema  fipico.  Compares  Benio  and  Le  Bossu  deciding  that  into  an 
epic  poem  enter :  "una  accion  noble  y  grande,  personas  ilustres  y  esclarecidas. 
como  Reyes,  etc.,  la  instruccion  moral  a  donde  debe  tirar  y  parar  todas  las  lineas 
de  la  Epopeya,  como  a  su  bianco  y  fin  principal;  y  finalmente  el  modo  verisimil, 
admirable  y  deleitoso  conque  se  debe  hacer  la  imitacion  de  la  accion."  II.  De  la 
fabula  epica.  Hecho  ilustre  y  grande  imitado  artificiosamente  a  algun  Rey  6  Heroe 
6  Capitan  esclarecido  debajo  de  cuya  alegoria  se  ensefie  alguna  importante  maxima 
moral  6  se  proponga  la  idea  de  un  perfecto  Heroe  militar.  Method  for  building  a 
plot.  III.  De  las  fabulas  de  los  Poemas  de  Homero  y  Virgilio.  IV.  De  las  cali- 
dades  y  requisitos  de  la  fabula  epica.  Absolute  need  of  the  marvelous.  V.  De  los 
Episodios  de  la  Fabula  £pica.  VI.  De  las  costumbres  en  general,  must  be  good. 
VII.  Del  Heroe.  VIII.  De  las  demas  personas  del  Poema.  IX.  De  las  ma- 
chinas  6  Deidades.  Gods  and  machinery  perfectly  allowable.  False  gods  allowed, 
if  not  introduced  in  a  theological  sense.  Agrees  with  Boileau's  "Chaque  vertu 
devient  une  divinite;  Minerve  est  la  Prudence  et  Venus  la  beaute,"  etc.  X.  Divi- 
sions of  the  Epic  poem.  XI.  Order  of  narration  of  events.  XII.  De  la  sen- 
tencia  y  locucion. 

P.  40.  Aprobacion.  "En  esas  pues  y  otras  paginas  veran  claramente  el  alto 
aprecio,  que  hace  de  nuestros  comicos  en  todo  lo  que  diestramente  acertaron 
arreglandose  al  Arte;  conque  no  deberan  estranar  que  censure  algunos  estravios 
substanciales."     (3d  page  of  the  article— no  pagination.) 

P.  40.  Diario  de  los  Literates  de  Esparia;  en  que  se  reducen  a  Compendio 
los  Escritos  de  los  Autores  Espanoles  y  se  hace  juicio  de  sus  Obras  desde  el  aiio 
1737.     7  vols.,  small  8°. 

P.  41.     Arte  Nuevo  de  Hacer  Comedias: 

"Porque  fuera  de  seis,  las  demas  todas 
Pecaron  contra  el  Arte  gravemente." 

P.  42.  Diario,  v.  IV,  p.  99.  "  'Que  sombras  sella'  esto  es  que  guarda  fingidos 
nombres  6  ficciones  (que  estas  respecto  de  la  verdad  no  son  mas  que  sombras)  'en 
tnmulo  de  espumas'  que  quiere  decir  evidentemente  en  las  honduras  del  mar  donde 
quedo  sepultado  el  referido  Icaro.  Assi  lo  entiende  su  erudito  Comentador  D. 
Garcia  Coronel  y  lo  entendera  qualquiera  interprete  desapasionado."    Cueto,  vol.  I, 


48  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

cl:.  vi,  feels  no  enthusiasm  for  either  explanation.  "Tan  fuera  de  sazon  parece  la 
alusion  a  la  caida  de  Icaro,  que  no  es  dable  admitirla,  como  tampoco  la  interpre- 
tacion  de  Luzan  que  seria  un  contrasentido  en  el  soneto  de  Gongora,  atendida  la 
indole  perecedera  del  papel.  Hay  que  confesar  que  no  es  facil  alcanzar  el  re- 
condito  sentido  de  la  memoria  caduca,  etc.  i  Como  no  anatematizar  de  todo  cora- 
zon  una  literatura  tan  extravagante  y  tenebrosa?"  p.  184. 

P.  43.     The  reviewer  of  the  "Poetica"  was  Iriarte,  the  uncle  of  the  fabulist. 

P.  43.  Discurso  Apologetico  de  Don  Inigo  de  Lanuza.  Donde  procura 
satisfacer  los  reparos  de  los  seiiores  diaristas  sobre  lo  Poetica  de  Don  Ignacio  de 
Luzan.  En  Pamplona.  No  date.  The  copy  in  the  Ticknor  collection  bears  on 
its  inner  cover  a  remark  to  the  effect  that  the  date  may  have  been  1740.  This 
note  is  in  Ticknor's  handwriting.     Cueto  dates  it  1741. 

P.  43.  The  reviewers  had  printed  "puertas  de  la  memoria"  instead  of 
"puertas  de  memoria."  Luzan  remarks  that  the  error  makes  the  same  difference 
which  exists  between  "isla  de  la  madera"  and  "isla  de  madera." 

P.  43.  Discurso,  p.  6.  Also  p.  22.  "Los  reparos  de  los  Senores  Diaristas 
sobre  la  Poetica  de  Luzan  aunque  como  he  dicho  no  Uegan  a  herirla  en  parte 
alguna  principal;  son  tales  y  tan  adornados  de  urbanidad  y  de  modestia  (circun- 
stancias  que  resplandecen  singularmente  no  solo  en  esta  censura  sino  en  las  demas 
del  Diario)  que  merecen  con  justa  razon,  sea  publico  el  agradecimiento  como  ha 
sido  publica  su  moderacion." 

P.  44.  Luzan  was  in  Paris  from  1747-1750,  where  he  wrote  his  "Memorias 
Literarias."  He  became  a  typical  eighteenth  century  universal  genius  interested  in 
all  things  from  chemistry  to  Crebillon.  Became  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the 
"Comedie  Larmoyante."  In  the  preface  to  his  translation  of  "Le  Prejuge  a  la 
Mode"  he  made  a  headlong  charge  against  the  French  classic  stage,  wondering  at 
the  "art"  which  made  people  weep  at  Phedre.  Men.  y  Pel.  Ideas  Est.,  v.  Ill,  p.  205, 
hails  this  change  with  glee,  hoping  to  prove  by  it  that  Luzan  came  to  his  senses 
after  seeing  the  French  classic  Drama  at  close  range.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
only  reason  why  Luzan  preferred  Nivelle  de  la  Chaussee  to  Racine  was  because 
it  seemed  to  him  that  the  former  satisfied  better  than  the  latter  the  demands  of 
verisimilitude.  The  process  does  not  imply  a  change  of  heart  on  the  part  of  the 
father  of  neo-classicisra  in  Spain. 

P.  44.  Quintana  Obras.  B.  A.  E.,  v.  XIX,  p.  147.  Sobre  la  Poesia  Castellana 
del  Siglo  XVIII.  "No  es  de  extrafiar  pues  que  fuese  poco  leida  entonces  y  que 
por  de  pronto  su  influjo  en  los  progresos  y  mejora  del  arte  fuese  corto  6  mas  bien 
nulo."  On  the  other  hand,  Ticknor  Hist,  of  Sp.  Lit.,  v.  III.  Part  II,  p.  313:" 
"For  its  purpose  a  better  treatise  could  hardly  have  been  produced.  The  effect 
was  immediate  and  great.  It  seemed  to  offer  a  remedy  for  the  bad  taste  which* 
had  accompanied,  and  in  no  small  degree  hastened  the  decline  of  the  national  liter^,- 
ture  from  the  time  of  Gongora." 


CHAPTER  III. 

El  Diario  de  Los  Literatos:     A  Purely   Spanish  Manifestation 
OF  THE  New  Spirit  in  Literary  Criticism. 

"El  Diario  de  los  Literatos"  began  to  appear  the  year  of  the  pubUca- 
tion  of  Luzan's  "Poetica."  * 

The  editors  were  M.  F.  Huerta,  J.  M.  Salafranca,  and  L.  G.  Puig. 
None  of  these  men  were  well  known  as  authors.  They  belonged  to  the 
already  numerous  class  of  Spaniards  who  felt  no  superstitious  respect  for 
French  ideals  but  who  realized  that  these  ideals  contained  elements  which 
could  benefit  Spanish  thought  and  Spanish  life. 

The  Founding  of  the  Diario. — The  plan  of  having  a  regularly  pub- 
lished book  review  was  not  an  altogether  new  one.  From  the  prologue  of 
the  seventh  volume  of  the  "Diario"  we  learn  that  as  early  as  1723  some  one 
had  suggested  that  two  "resumes"  of  every  new  book  printed  in  Spain 
should  be  made  by  the  royal  librarian  and  sent  to  "las  Academias  de  Paris 
y  de  Trevoux,"  in  whose  official  organs  no  Spanish  works  were  ever  re- 
viewed. The  editors  of  these  publications  gave  as  an  explanation  of  their 
apparent  indifference,  that  they  never  had  received  literary  communica- 
tions from  Madrid,  whereas  they  were  kept  informed  about  the  literary  life 
of  practically  every  other  important  capital  of  Europe.  One  Don  Juan 
de  Ferreras,  whose  official  position  we  have  not  been  able  to  discover, 
consulted  on  this  point,  replied  that  such  an  undertaking  was  useless,  as 
Spanish  books  of  the  day  contained  neither  inventions  nor  discoveries  of 
any  kind.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  abstracts  had  been  sent  to  the  Jesuit 
fathers  and  they  had  only  published  the  titles  of  a  few,"porque  su  institute 
era  informar  a  la  Europa  de  los  adelantamientos  en  las  Artes  y  Ciencias 
y  no  habiendo  novedad  considerable  en  los  libros  que  se  imprimen  en 
Espaiia  no  han  querido  hacer  memoria  de  ellos."  ^* 

This  attempt  to  bring  contemporary  Spanish  works  within  the  range 
of  the  intellectual  life  of  Europe  had  failed  in  a  humiliating  way.  The 
idea  does  not  seem  to  have  been  taken  up  again.  The  attempt  made  by 
Salafranca  in  1736  was  not  of  the  same  type.  His  "Memorias  Eruditas 
para  la  Critica  de  Artes  y  Ciencias  .  .  .  para  mostrar  a  nuestros  Patricios 
los  progresses  de  la  Literatura  Estrangera  .  .  ."  had  they  been  pub- 


^*  Diario,  v.  VII.    Prologue.    No  pagination,  4th  leaflet. 


50  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

lished  would  have  aimed,  as  the  title  indicates,  to  bring  matter  for  study 
and  comparison  within  the  grasp  of  Spanish  readers. *'•'■' 

The  purpose  of  the  "Diario  de  los  Literatos"  was  a  bolder  one  than 
that  which  was  at  the  foundation  of  the  two  schemes  which  we  have  just 
mentioned.  It  was  designed  to  pass  an  impartial  judgment  on  all  new 
books  published  in  Spain. 

The  newly  born  periodical  was  dedicated  to  Philippe  V  himself. 
The  protection  of  the  monarch  was  asked  on  the  grounds  that  the  "Diario" 
was  a  manifestation  of  the  same  movement  which  had  brought  about  the 
foundation  of  the  School  for  Noblemen's  Sons  and  that  of  the  Royal 
Library,  together  with  the  restoration  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Seville, 
the  establishment  of  the  Spanish  Academy  and  of  the  University  of 
Cervera.  The  end  of  the  dedication  might  well  have  aroused  the  preju- 
dices and  increased  the  suspicions  of  the  "castellanos  viejos"  for  it  con- 
tained a  praise  of  Louis  XIV,  whose  incomparable  virtues  were  shown 
to  have  taken  as  their  present  place  of  abode  the  heroic  bosom  of  Philip 
V  "para  gloria  y  felicidad  de  las  Espanas."  '^'^ 

As  is  the  case  with  nearly  all  the  other  neo-classic  documents,  the 
"Diario"  has  an  introduction  to  its  first  volume  which  attempts  to  estab- 
lish on  logical  grounds  the  cause  for  its  existence.  The  human  mind 
has  a  craving  for  universal  knowledge,  but  its  powers  of  acquisition  are 
limited.  The  thinkers  of  the  seventeenth  century  "invented"  periodicals 
with  a  view  to  supplying  this  infirmity  of  the  human  mind  by  presenting 
knowledge  in  the  most  compact  form,  for  "si  vivimos  por  compendio 
tambien  por  compendio  debemos  ser  instruidos."  ®^ 

The  Avozved  Policy  of  the  Diario. — The  editors  of  the  Diario  an- 
nounced that  they  would  be  guided  in  their  policy  by  the  "Journal  de 
Trevoux,"  a  periodical  which,  because  of  the  thoroughness  and  variety 
of  its  reviews  as  well  as  the  courteous  tones  of  its  criticisms,  was  superior 
to  any  other  publication  dealing  with  contemporary  hterature. 

The  consistently  courteous  tone  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  had  made  a 
deep  impression  on  the  editors  of  the  "Diario"  for  they  refer  to  it  again 
in  the  pages  where  they  protest  that,  if  their  natural  prudence  should 
fail  to  make  them  just  in  all  cases,  "el  ejemplo  de  los  Estranjeros  que  con 
la  equidad  y  moderacion  han  hecho  bien  quistos  sus  jornales,  nos  hubiera 
guiado  al  grado  conveniente  para  el  principio  y  continuacion  de  este 
Diario."  * 

We  shall  see  farther  on  in  this  study  that  the  repeated  attacks  on  the 


^^  Diario,  v.  I.     Introduction. 
®^  Diario,  v.  I.     Dedication. 
^''  Diario,  v.  I.     Introduction. 


EL  DIARIO  DE  LOS  LITERATOS  51 

■Diario"  by  those  Spaniards  who  refused  to  see  room  for  improvement  in 
any  phase  of  Spanish  Hfe  were  to  embitter  the  editors  to  the  extent  of 
making  them  lose  sight  of  their  ideal.  Their  judgments,  persistently  mis- 
interpreted by  chauvinistic  readers,  were  to  grow  less  and  less  serene 
while  the  self-control  which  they  still  retained  in  critical  matters  was 
more  than  compensated  for  by  the  virulent  and  pugnacious  tone  of  the 
prologues  introducing  the  later  volumes  of  essays. 

Before  studying  more  in  detail  the  evolution  which  the  naturally 
equable  temper  of  the  "Diaristas"  underwent  through  the  stormy  life  of 
their  periodical,  let  us  gain  a  better  idea  of  its  aim  and  of  its  spirit  by 
studying  a  few  of  the  reviews  which  appeared  on  its  pages. 

The  editors  had  in  mind  to  attack  those  books  which  did  more  harm 
than  good  by  helping  to  perpetuate  among  Spaniards  the  love  of  certain 
defects  typical  of  their  race,  these  defects  being  "el  espiritu  cavalleresco, 
puntualidades  ridiculas  en  el  trato  civil  y  ...  las  costumbres  comicas 
amatorias  que  aun  se  conservan  en  nuestra  Espana,  demanadas  de  la  fre- 
quente  leccion  de  los  libros  de  Caballerias,  de  Novelas  y  de  Comedias  de 
amores  que  por  lo  arduo  y  lo  maravilloso  fueron  las  delicias  de  los  siglos 
pasados."  ®^ 

This  quotation  would  prove  amply  the  close  intellectual  affiliation 
which  linked  Luzan  with  the  editors  and  collaborators  of  the  "Diario." 
The  study  of  the  most  typical  essays  will  only  strengthen  this  proof. 

Typical  Reviews. — Two  reviews  of  Comedias  are  of  interest  to  us. 
The  first  passes  judgment  on  Alarcon's  "La  Crueldad  por  el  Honor,"  of 
which  an  edition  was  given  out  in  1737.  The  most  classical,  in  the  French 
sense,  of  the  Spanish  dramatists  meets  in  this  work  only  with  lukewarm 
approbation  on  the  part  of  the  reviewers.  The  subject  is  more  tragic  than 
comic.  The  plot  based  on  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  an  impostor  to  im- 
personate Alfonso  I  is,  to  be  sure,  historically  true,  but  is  such  as  to  appeal 
to  a  nation  more  fond  of  the  marvelous  than  of  the  probable.  As  for  the 
lines,  they  contain  much  delightful  wit  though  there  are  times  when  they 
run  into  stylistic  excesses.* 

"La  Tortura  de  la  Iglesia"  by  Thomas  de  Anorbe  y  Corregel  is  treated 
not  simply  with  coldness  but  with  severity.  The  subject,  a  sacred  one, 
is  of  such  a  nature  that  the  three  unities  cannot  possibly  be  applied  with- 
out bringing  Sacred  History  into  conflict  with  the  Doctrines  of  the  Church 
and  the  actions  require  such  elaborate  stage  settings  that  the  reviewer 
exclaims  ironically:  "No  dejamos  de  considerar  quan  felicisimo  sera  el 
siglo  en  que  se  halle  persona  que  pueda  administrar  tantos  materiales 
necessarios  por  las  tramoyas  y  adornos  escenicos,  que  se  necesitan  para 


Diario,  v.  I.     Introduction. 


52  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

su  execucion  en  lo  que  manifiesta  nuestro  Autor  lo  fecundo  y  magnanimo 
de  su  fantasia  .  .  ."  ^^ 

The  review  ends  with  this  remark  strongly  tinged  with  disdain  :  "Las 
personas  que  no  gustan  de  poesias  profanas  ni  de  saber  el  Arte  Comico, 
haliaran  en  su  leccion  un  entretemiento  apacible  y  provechoso." 

We  notice  in  these  two  reviews  a  growing  unwillingness  to  account 
brilliancy  and  wit  sufficient  compensation  for  extravagance  in  plot.  The 
same  attitude  denoting  hostility  towards  free  fancy  finds  a  voice  else- 
where than  in  the  criticism  of  "comedias."  Speaking  of  the  prose  of 
Villaroel,  we  are  told  that  it  constitutes  a  mighty  exorcism  against  the 
demon  of  melanchoUa  but  that  its  wit  is  too  biting — "tambien  se  desazonan 
los  manjares  por  abundancia  de  sal  que  en  siendo  mucho  muerde  y  no 
sazona."  ^° 

The  Reviews  by  Hervds. — The  majority  of  the  reviews  are  not  signed. 
The  principles  governing  the  criticism  of  these  essays  are  so  consistently 
the  same  and  their  style  has  so  few  distinguishing  features  that  it  would 
be  a  very  difficult  task  to  determine  which  came  from  the  same  pen.  The 
articles  bearing  the  signature  or  the  pseudonyms  of  Don  Gerardo  de 
Hervas  stand  alone  in  this  respect.  From  the  first  lines,  the  reader  is 
captivated  by  the  dash  and  brilliancy  of  the  style,  while  the  keenness  of 
the  argument  and  the  truly  Spanish  excellence  of  the  wit  displayed  com- 
mand his  attention  to  the  very  last.  So  original  is  the  style  of  that  author 
that  his  signing  at  times  "Jorge  Pitillas"  and  at  others  "Don  Hugo  Her- 
rera  de  Jaspedos"  deceives  no  one.  A  glance  at  the  essay  is  sufficient  to 
remove  all  doubts  as  to  the  identity  of  the  author.* 

There  are  three  essays  by  Hervas  in  the, complete  collection  of  the 
"Diario." 

To  the  reader  who  has  been  compelled  to  plough  through  the  earnest 
but  rather  leaden  material  which  has  been  the  subject  of  our  discussion  up 
to  this  point,  the  meeting  with  these  vigorous  and  picturesque  essays  has 
the  resuscitating  effect  of  a  spring  of  living  waters  discovered  at  high 
noon  by  a  tired  wayfarer. 

The  most  delightful  irony  pervades  the  prose  as  well  as  the  verse  of 
Jose  Gerardo  de  Hervas.  It  is  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the  "Diario"  that  we 
fi.nd  the  first  of  these  essays.  In  a  previous  issue,  the  "Diario"  had  attacked 
and  handled  pretty  severely  one  Don  Pedro  Nolasco  de  Ozejo  who  had 
published  a  book  on  the  life  of  St.  Anthony  bearing  the  following  title: 
"El  Sol  de  los  Anagoretas,  La  Luz  de  Egypto,  el  Pasnio  de  la  Tabayda, 
el  Asombro  del  Mondo,  el  Portento  de  la  Grecia,  la  Milagrosa  Vida  de 
San  Antonio  Abad  puesta  en  octavas  por  D.  P.  N."  * 


69  Diario,  v.  IV,  p.  360. 
T°  Diario,  v.  II,  art.  20. 


EL  DIARIO  DE  LOS  LITERATOS  53 

This  title  tells  us  that  the  poem  contained  the  strange  mixture  of 
miracles,  dogma  and  mystic  theorizing  typical  of  so  many  of  the  well 
meaning  but  quite  absurd  books  of  a  devotional  character  which  came  to 
light  so  often  during  the  years  when  Spanish  literature  was  at  its  lowest 
ebb.  The  "Diario"  had  made  an  analysis  of  this  work  and  treated  it  con- 
temptuously. The  author  had  published  a  sharp  reply  and  Hervas,  to 
continue  the  work  begun  by  the  first  article  on  the  matter,  wrote  out  an 
elaborate  mock  defense  of  the  work  and  of  its  author.  In  it  he  gently 
chided  the  editors  of  the  "Diario,"  saying  of  them  "lo  que  uno  de  nues- 
tros  mejores  comicos  tenia  a  las  mujeres  de  quienes  dijo  que  eran  diablos 
de  poco  arrepentimiento."  * 

His  method  of  apparently  dismissing  the  charge  of  rudeness  which 
had  been  brought  up  against  Don  Pedro  because  of  his  acrid  rejoinder 
would  lose  its  savor  if  translated.  For  this  reason  we  quote  it  in  full. 
Speaking  of  the  presence  or  absence  of  courtesy  in  a  person's  make-up 
he  says :  "como  si  esto  de  la  cortesia  estuviesse  en  manos  de  un  Christiano 
y  no  fuese  cosa  que  Dios  la  da  y  Dios  la  quita.  Esto,  seiiores  mios,  va  en 
ingenios  y  si  Don  Pedro  no  le  tiene  de  ser  cortes,  nadie  puede  formar 
queja  de  lo  que  el  otro  no  puede  remediar;  y  mucho  menos  Vds.  pues  no 
les  llamo  Garrachones,  que  segun  tengo  noticia  es  el  dicterio  mas  de  la 
moda  en  essa  corte."  ''^ 

Another  essay  of  Hervas  is  the  one  in  which  he  tears  to  pieces  the 
preface  or  rather  the  dedication  of  a  book  entitled  "Rasgo  Epico"  written 
by  one  D.  Joachin  Casses.* 

We  are  introduced  to  the  literary  lights  of  the  home  town  of  the 
author  who  signs  D.  Hugo  Herrera  de  Jaspedos.  The  attorney,  the  barber 
and  the  physician  meet  at  the  house  of  that  gentleman  who  reports  to  us 
their  lively  conversation  in  the  course  of  which  we  learn  that  the  preface 
in  question  is  pilfered  partly  from  the  "Mercure  Litteraire"  and  partly 
from  Ozejo's  "Vida  de  San  Antono  Abad." 

This  piece  of  work,  however,  is  less  vivacious  than  the  one  which  we 
have  just  discussed  and  it  is  decidedly  inferior  to  what  is  the  author's 
masterpiece,  namely,  his  "Satire  against  the  bad  writers  of  the  day." 

As  Hervas  was  not  officially  one  of  the  editors  of  the  "Diario."  a  let- 
ter asks  the  hospitality  of  the  review  for  his  satire  and  explains  briefly  the 
reasons  which  impelled  the  author  to  compose  it."  It  is  his  habit  to  read 
all  new  books  as  they  come  out  and  he  is  thirsting  for  revenge  because 
of  "los  repetidos  chascos,  que  en  el  gusto  y  en  la  bolsa  me  ha  acarreado  esta 
imprudente  curiosidad."     He  chooses  the  "Diario"  as  his  agent  because 


"  Diario,  v.  V,  p.  29. 

72  Diario,  v.  VII,  pp.  194  ff. 


54  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

in  his  experience  with  contemporary  writings  those  appearing  in  that 
review,  though  not  perfect  by  any  means,  at  least,  are  never  very  bad. 

He  will  try  to  be  guided  by  reason  and  by  Christian  principles  but 
he  does  not  mean  to  claim  that  his  criticism  will  be  always  just  nor  in  any 
way  final.  "Fuera  de  que,  lo  que  yo  digo,  no  es  ninguna  decision  Rotal 
ni  el  Evangelic  de  San  Marco."  '^'^ 

The  satire  "Contra  los  malos  escritores  de  su  tiempo"  is  too  well 
known  to  be  treated  in  the  detailed  way  which  less  accessible  writings 
require.  In  it  there  is  no  attempt  at  a  classification  of  literary  genres  nor 
any  didactic  enumeration  of  rules.  It  is  a  general  discharge  of  witty 
indignation  against  bad  taste  and  bad  writers.  The  comical  violence  of  its 
style  can  best  be  judged  from  a  few  quotations.  The  very  first  lines  of 
the  poem  plunge  us  in  "medias  res." 

"No  mas  no  mas  callar,  ya  es  impossible : 
i  Alia  voy !   no  me  tengan  :    i  Fuera  !    digo, 
Que  se  desata  mi  maldita  horrible. 
No  censures  mi  intento   j  o  Lelio  amigo  ! 
Pues  sabes  cuanto  tiempo  he  contrastado 
El  fatal  movimiento,  que  ahora  sigo. 
Ya  toda  mi  cordura  se  ha  acabado: 
Ya  llego  la  paciencia  al  postrer  punto, 

Y  la  atacada  mina  se  ha  volado." 

With  sustained  vim  he  attacks  plagiarists,  ridicules  the  perpetrators 
of  flat-footed  or  altisonant  dedications.  He  heaps  abuse  on  those  guilty 
of  using  Gallicisms  as  well  as  on  those  who  mar  the  natural  beauty  of 
their  mother  tongue  by  means  of  far-fetched  figures,  exaggerated  terms, 
wilful  obscurity  or  any  other  form  of  literary  unreason. 

"Dejame  lamentar  el  desvario 
De  que  nuestra  gran  lengua  este  abatida 
Siendo  de  la  eloquencia  el  mayor  rio." 

The  subject  matter  of  the  satire  contains  no  original  views  on  criticism. 
.\s  a  matter  of  fact,  Cueto  has  proved  conclusively  that  the  ideas  expressed 
were  those  of  Boileau.*  Often  he  follows  his  model  so  closely  that  resem- 
blance to  the  "Art  Poetique"  forces  itself  on  the  reader,  as  for  instance 
in  the  line : 

"La  vista  de  un  mal  libro  me  es  terrible," 

or,  when  he  admits  his  inability  to  temporize : 

"Conozco  que  el  fingir  me  aflige  y  dana : 

Y  asi  a  lo  bianco  siempre  llame  bianco 

Y  a  Maner  le  llame  siempre  alimana." 


^2Diario,  v.  VII,  p.  199. 


EL  DIARIO  DE  LOS  LITERATOS  55 

This  poem  illustrates  the  possibility  of  perfect  hterary  assimilation. 
Though  the  ideas  areBoileau's  and  for  that  reason  generally  foreign  to  the 
Spanish  turn  of  mind,  the  style  which  clothes  them  is  typical  of  the  purest, 
the  best  of  the  Spanish  satirical  verse.  For  that  reason  and  granting 
Sainte-Beuve's  claim,  that  style  alone  is  immortal,  the  satire  of  Hervas  is 
as  completely  original  a  piece  of  writing  as  can  be  the  pride  of  any 
nation.* 

Reasons  Actually  Underlying  the  Founding  of  the  Diario. — With  the 
last  volumes  of  the  "Diario"  we  begin  to  have  tangible  proof  of  the  deeper 
reasons  which  brought  about  this  whole  critical  revival  of  which  Luzan 
and  the  collaborators  of  the  "Diario"  were  the  official  leaders.  As  we  have 
already  said,  when  treating  of  the  share  of  Feijoo  in  this  neo-classic 
movement,  there  had  been,  from  the  beginning  of  the  century,  a  steady 
influx  of  French  ideas  into  Spain. 

There  was  nothing  forced  in  that  invasion.  Frenchmen  had  no  active 
part  in  it,  but  Spaniards  of  the  educated  class,  finding  no  suitable  reading 
matter  in  the  home  production,  turned  more  and  more  to  foreign  books. 

As  a  result  these  readers  could  not  but  make  the  most  depressing 
comparisons  between  the  contemporary  literature  of  their  country  and 
that  of  its  neighbors,  more  particularly  of  course  that  of  France,  which 
enjoyed  then  the  respect  of  all  nations  in  intellectual  matters. 

Luzan  had  already  expressed  his  sorrow  at  having  to  admit  the  in- 
feriority of  his  nation  in  the  literary  world  of  the  day. 

This  feeling  of  shame  recurred  with  increasing  frequency  in  the 
"Diario,"  and  also  with  increasing  intensity:  not  that  it  actually  was  more 
intense  at  one  time  than  at  another  but  the  leaders  of  the  movement,  in 
proportion  as  the  fight  waxed  hot,  became  less  and  less  able  to  hide  the 
real  state  of  their  feelings  in  the  matter. 

The  Rev.  Fr.  Jacinto  Loaisa  had  discovered  that  a  historical  work 
purporting  to  be  original  with  Maner  was  merely  a  garbled  copy  of  a 
French  account  of  the  events  following  the  peace  of  Riswick. 

Before  tearing  the  plagiarized  work  to  pieces,  the  critic  feels  called 
upon  to  give  a  reason  which  will  explain  his  going  to  so  much  trouble  to 
destroy  a  man's  literary  reputation.  He  explains  that  he  has  no  personal 
animosity  against  the  writer,  but  that  for  a  long  time  he  has  been 
ashamed  to  see  in  what  a  state  of  inferiority  Spain  stood  when  compared 
with  other  nations.  He  has  been  able  to  gain  this  new  and  unpleasant 
perspective  through  the  reading  of  books  loaned  him  by  foreigners.  Pos- 
sessed of  this  knowledge,  he  feels  that  it  is  his  imperative  duty  to  do  his 
share  in  fighting  the  ignorance  and  the  charlatanism  which  are  disgracing 
his  country.* 

The  editors  of  the  "Diario,"  under  the  stress  of  the  struggle,  grow 


56  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

more  and  more  outspoken,  and  to  make  their  position  perfectly  clear,  they 
give  a  sketch  of  their  intellectual  evolution. 

From  it  we  learn  that  these  gentlemen  went  through  the  regular 
course  of  study  which  awaited  in  those  days  the  youths  of  Spain  and  that, 
as  a  result  of  this  training,  they  became  possessed  of  the  usual  baggage 
belonging  to  educated  men  of  the  middle  class,  this  baggage  including  a 
scorn  for  things  foreign — "y  pensabamos  bajamente  de  los  Estrangeros."  * 

But  these  future  journalists  were  less  easily  satisfied  than  the 
average  youths  of  their  land,  and  they  continued  their  education  by  dab- 
bling in  languages  as  well  as  in  arts  and  sciences  not  directly  connected 
with  their  regular  occupation. 

Then  it  was  that  the  inadequacy  of  their  early  training  became  ap- 
parent to  them.  Grieved  by  the  realization  of  the  extent  to  which  their 
faulty  training  had  harmed  them,  they  became  filled  with  a  generous 
desire  to  increase  their  fund  of  information  and  to  warn  others  against 
a  system  of  ideas  and  ideals  which  were  bound  to  harm  those  who  in  good 
faith  entrusted  to  them  their  intellectual  development. 

Unfavorable  comparison  of  Spanish  intellectual  development  with 
that  of  their  more  favored  neighbors  was  by  this  prologue  frankly  ad- 
mitted to  be  the  origin  of  the  "Diario."  This  was  a  very  dangerous  admis- 
sion for  the  "Diaristas"  to  make.  To  be  sure,  a  discreet  reader  might 
have  guessed  as  much  from  the  character  of  the  majority  of  the  essays 
published  up  to  the  time  of  that  preface,  but  what  is  only  guessed  at  can 
always  be  explained  away  and,  at  any  rate,  it  does  not  call  for  an  imme- 
diate rejoinder.  The  unabashed  statement  of  the  "Diaristas"  which  we 
have  just  reported  left  no  room  for  diplomacy  or  for  compromise.  As  a 
result  many  of  its  friends  became  lukewarm.  .  Those  who  already  had 
declared  war  on  the  review  increased  their  effort  and,  in  course  of  time, 
brought  about  the  downfall  of  the  "Diario,"  in  spite  of  the  protection 
granted  by  the  King  himself. 

The  Evolution  of  the  Tone  of  the  Diario. — The  spread  of  this  hos- 
tility can  be  traced  to  the  prologues  which  the  "Diaristas"  found 
themselves  compelled  to  prefix  to  their  later  volumes  in  order  to  explain 
their  position  and  to  repeat  that  their  purpose  was  a  patriotic  one.  We 
shall  see  that  these  prologues  were  not  masterpieces  of  diplomacy.  Their 
increasing  violence  is  a  good  indication  of  the  way  the  fight  grew  more 
and  more  bitter. 

We  learn  from  the  foreword  to  the  fifth  volume  that  friends  of  the 
review  had  discreetly  urged  its  editors  to  soften  the  tone  of  their  criti- 
cism. The  reply  of  these  gentlemen  was  blunt  enough.  They  retorted 
that  it  was  not  possible  to  be  patient  with  a  horde  of  bad  writers  who 


EL  DIARIO  DE  LOS  LITERATOS  57 

daily  lowered  the  literary  taste  of  their  country  and  made  it  impossible 
for  capable  authors  to  be  appreciated  or  even  read. 

These  same  friends,  in  their  mild  remonstrances,  must  have  re- 
minded the  "Diaristas"  of  their  promise  to  imitate  the  good  fathers  of 
Trevoux  in  amenity  of  tone  as  well  as  in  judicial  wisdom.  The  answer 
which  they  received  shows  the  complete  change  of  heart  which 
the  reformers  had  undergone.  Two  years  before,  they  had  made  that 
promise  in  good  faith ;  we  know  that,  at  that  time,  they  had  chided  Luzan 
for  what  they  called  the  excessive  heat  of  his  judgments.  And  yet  no 
more  bitter  arraignment  against  the  Spanish  writers  of  the  early  eight- 
eenth century  can  be  found  than  the  one  contained  in  the  answer  made 
to  the  aforementioned  request  of  the  "Diario's"  prudent  friends.  This  is, 
in  full,  the  defense  of  the  "Diaristas" :  "Y  si  alguno  quiere  objetarnos  que 
en  otros  Reynos  se  hacen  los  Diarios  con  mas  templanza,  le  respondemos 
que  ni  ha  reflexionado  sobre  la  calidad  de  los  Libros  Estranjeros  ni  sobre 
el  valor  y  reputacion  de  los  nuestros.  Los  estrangeros,  por  lo  comun, 
estan  bien  instruidos  en  los  idiomas  Latino  y  Griego,  en  la  erudicion 
antigua  y  moderna,  evitan  los  mas  visibles  defectos  de  estilo  y  de  meth- 
odo,  y  aspiran  a  discurrir  con  alguna  novedad  6  a  tratar  de  un  assunto 
con  alguna  nueva  economia  y  utilidad :  por  lo  que  no  necesitan  sus 
Diaristas  censurar  tan  asperamente  como  nosotros  que  encontramos 
muchos  libros  sin  estilo,  sin  methodo,  sin  invencion,  sin  pensamientos 
sin  inteligencia  de  lengua  Latina,  sin  erudicion,  si  no  es  la  que  copian 
dc  Autores  vulgarissimos,  sin  eleccion  de  Autores  porque  no  los  conocen 
y  sin  exactitud  en  la  verdad,  porque  sin  critica  no  pueden  tenerla :  y 
assi  aora  creemos  que  tienen  razon  los  que  dicen  que  no  debemos  cen- 
surarlos ;  porque  baste  decir  que  no  son  libros  ni  pueden  serlo ;  y  si 
algun  nombre  puede  ponerselos  es  de  'Molas'  literarias,  informes,  e 
inutiles  por  defecto  de  actividad  intellectual." 

This  tirade,  the  reader  should  bear  in  mind,  was  a  reply  to  a  re- 
quest for  moderation  made  by  friends. 

It  is  so  bitter  that  when  we  chance  to  find  a  prologue  directed  at 
an  enemy  we  do  not  meet  with  more  intense  expressions  of  heat  and 
scorn. 

The  prologue  of  the  sixth  volume  of  the  "Diario"  is  directed  against 
a  priest  who,  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  suspension  of  the  "Diario."  had 
exclaimed  "Bendito  sea  Dios  que  ya  se  acabaron  estos  hombres !" 

After  thanking  the  King  for  having  resuscitated  the  "Diario,"  the 
prologue  to  the  volume  published  in  1740  heaps  up  personal  abuse  on 
the  unfortunate  priest,  then  develops  the  meaning  of  his  ill  advised  excla- 
mation as  follows : 


58  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

Bendito  sea  Dios  que  todos  los  ignorantes  y  barbaros  podran  escrivir 
lo  que  se  les  antojare. 

Bendito  sea  Dios  que  todo  ocioso  podra  sin  trabajo  ni  verguenza 
trasladar  y  robar  los  escritos  agenos  sin  eleccion  orden  6  fidelidad. 

Bendito  sea  Dios  que  con  titulos  embusteros  se  robara  el  dinero  6 
los  efectos  a  las  letras ;  y  escarmentados  de  los  malos  libros,  no  com- 
praran  los  buenos  ni  se  compran. 

Bendito  sea  Dios  que  el  honor  de  las  letras  de  Espana  permanecera 
despreciado  de  los  sabios  Estrangeros. 

Bendito  sea  Dios  que  las  fabulas,  y  mentiras  passaran  por  las 
mas  averiguadas  verdades. 

Bendito  sea  Dios  que  las  pessimas  costumbres  podran  aumentar  su 
perdicion  con  la  propagacion  de  los  Libros  malos. 

Bendito  sea  Dios  que  los  sabios  callaran  de  verguenza  de  los  ignor- 
antes y  estos  pareceran  sabios  y  robaran  el  premio  de  los  sabios. 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  this  diatribe  to  the  courtesy  and  "ton  de  bonne 
compagnie"  of  the  good  fathers  of  Trevoux.  It  is  almost  equally  re- 
moved from  the  even  tenor  qi  Luzan's  arguments.  The  "Diaristas"  have 
lost  their  temper,  for  good  and  all.  Exasperated  by  the  stupidity  of 
some  and  by  the  shallow  impertinence  of  others,  they  have  completely 
forgotten  their  lofty  ideals  of  literary  amenity  and  their  language  is  as 
violent  as  that  of  their  enemies. 

The  Result  of  That  Evolution. — This  outburst  of  passion  was  to 
influence  most  profoundly  the  whole  of  the  neo-classic  movement.  Up 
to  the  time  when  the  "Diaristas"  first  ran  amuck  dispensing  insults  and 
invectives  to  all  comers,  the  neo-classic  movement  had  based  all  its 
arguments  on  logic,  on  Aristotle,  or  simply  on  appeals  to  common  sense. 
They  stated  that  Spain  would  be  better  off  if  this  or  that  matter  were 
altered  or  introduced.  To  be  sure,  the  beginning  of  wisdom  with  the 
leaders  of  the  reform  movement  had  arisen  from  the  comparison  of 
Spain's  lamentable  state  with  that  of  its  enlightened  neighbors,  but  the 
leaders  had  said  little  about  the  source  of  their  ideas.  The  "Diaristas," 
carried  off  their  feet  by  the  increasing  excitement  of  the  struggle,  at 
last  flung  the  supposed  shame  of  Spain  in  the  very  teeth  of  all  Spaniards. 

From  that  moment,  the  neo-classic  movement  lost  absolutely  what- 
ever small  chance  it  had  had  of  ever  becoming  a  national  movement  in 
the  real  sense  of  the  word.  From  that  moment  it  became  an  alien  thing, 
hated  instinctively  by  those  who  had  no  taste  for  abstract  truth  or  rather 
by  those  whose  education  did  not  enable  them  to  grasp  abstract  truth. 
The  learned  and  those  who  flattered  themselves  that  they  were  citizens 
of  the  world  might  uphold  the  movement  and  continue  to  see  its  great 
possibilities,  wishing  dearly  that  Spain  might  benefit  by  it.     It  was  never- 


EL  DIARIO  DE  LOS  LITERATOS 


59 


theless  doomed  to  remain  an  aristocratic  movement,  forever  held  in 
suspicion  by  the  intellectual  "tiers  etat"  of  the  Peninsula.  The  fact  that 
it  had  risen  directly  through  the  effort  of  patriotic  Spaniards  and  that 
Spaniards,  patriotic  in  a  broad  sense,  were  helping  in  its  development 
did  not  save  it  from  being  classified  once  for  all  with  that  vague  invasion 
of  French  things,  which,  real  or  imaginary,  haunted  the  minds  of  the 
middle  and  lower  classes  of  Spanish  society  throughout  the  eighteenth 
century. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  III. 

p.  49.  The  bound  volumes  of  the  "Diario"  bear  the  dates  1737  for  v.  I  and 
1741  for  V.  VII. 

P.  50.  V.  I.  Introduction.  Also  in  the  same:  "Siguieronse  a  estos  jornales 
las  Memorias  de  Trevoux  que  comenzaron  con  el  siglo  presente  empleandose  en 
ellas  con  manifiestas  ventajas  a  todos  los  demas  jornalistas,  los  Padres  de  la  Com- 
paiiia  de  Jesus  como  se  demuestra  en  lo  selecto  de  las  Obras  que  extractan,  en  la 
exactitud  y  extension  de  los  Extractos  en  la  equidad  con  que  critican  los  libros  y 
en  el  urbano  artificio  con  que  dan  a  conocer  los  def  ectos  de  algunos  escritores : 
circumstancias  que  no  se  hallen  juntas  en  ninguna  otra  compania  de  jornalistas." 

P.  51.  Diario,  v.  I,  4th  article.  La  graciosidad  es  aguda  y  sazonada  aunque  tal 
vez  excede  los  limites  de  su  caracter,  p.  81. 

P.  52.  Cueto,  Historia  Critica,  etc.,  v.  I,  ch.  vi.  Speaks  of  the  problem  con- 
cerning the  identity  of  Hervas.  The  editors  of  the  "Diario"  gave  no  clue  as  to 
this,  probably  to  spare  their  friend  the  attacks  sure  to  deluge  a  successful  de- 
fender of  good  taste,  p.  194.  On  page  198,  Cueto  cites  a  letter  of  Hervas  him- 
self to  his  cousin  Cobo  de  la  Torre,  in  which  he  seems  to  refer  to  himself  as  the 
author  of  the  satire— "todo  esta  revelando  a  las  clares  que  Hervas  y  Pitillas  son 
una  misma  e  identica  persona."  Pellicer  in  his  article  on  the  actress  Petronila 
Xibaja  says  in  so  many  words  that  Pitillas  and  Jaspedos  are  no  other  than  Hervas. 
A  letter  from  (p.  200)  Puig  seems  to  indicate  that  Hervas  was  either  a  cleric  or  a 
lawyer.     He  died  in  1742.     The  satire  was  probably  written  in  1741. 

P.  52.  Cadalso  had  such  books  in  mind  when  he  wrote  the  following  lines 
in  his  "Cartas  Marruecas"  Carta  11,  p.  311:  "Algunos  ingenios  mueren  todavia, 
digamoslo  asi,  de  la  misma  peste  de  que  pocos  escaparon  entonces.  Varies 
oradores  y  poetas  de  estos  dias  parece  que  no  son  sino  sombras  6  almas  de 
los  que  murieron  cien  afios  he  .  .  .  esta  es  suma  verdad  .  .  .  pero  con  par- 
ticularidad  en  los  titulos  de  libros,  papeles  y  comedias.  Aqui  tengo  una  lista  de 
obras  que  han  salido  al  publico  con  toda  solemnidad  de  veinte  afios  a  esta  parte, 
haciendo  poco  honor  a  nuestra  literatura."  Cites  "Los  zelos  hacen  estrellas  y  el 
amor  hace  prodigios."  "Zumba  de  pronosticos  y  pronosticos  de  Zumba."  "Eterni- 
dad  de  diversas  eternidades."     These  were  published  after  1757. 

P.  53.  Diario,  v.  V.,  art.  1.  Carta  de  Don  Hugo  Herrera  de  Jaspedos  escrita 
a  los  Autores  del  Diario.     P.  29  for  quotation. 

P.  54.  Diario,  v.  VII,  art.  15.  Carta  de  Don  Hugo  dc  Herrera  de  Jaspedos  a 
los  Autores  del  Diario  sobre  el  Rasgo  Epico  del  Doctor  D.  Joachin  Casses. 


60  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

P.  54.  Ciieto.  Historia  critica  de  la  Poesia  Castellena  en  el  siglo  XVIII., 
V.  I,  ch.  vi.  Cueto  remarks  on  the  fact  that  many  critics,  including  Ticknor, 
saw  only  classical  references  or  sources  in  the  work  signed  Jorge  Pitillas.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  many  lines  from  Juvenal  and  Perseus  are  recognizable 
through  the  Castilian  of  the  Satire  and  that  the  author  always  referred  such  to 
the  Latin  author  whom  they  resemble.  This  was  only  a  literary  trick,  says  Cueto, 
p.  191.  "El  author,  que  estaba  completamente  familiarizado  con  las  satiras  de 
Boileau,  en  cuya  doctrina  habia  bebido  real  y  verdaderamente  toda  su  inspiracion, 
no  cita  una  sola  vez  al  eminente  escritor  frances,  y,  en  cambio  no  omite,  en  las 
notas,  uno  solo  de  los  pasajes  de  los  poetas  de  la  antiguedad,  en  donde  quiere 
aparentar  haber  encontrado  las  ideas  cardinales  de  la  satira."  Cueto  proceeds  to 
prove  that  Pitillas  did  not  take  his  ideas  only  from  the  Satires  of  Boileau  and  the 
Art  Poetique  but  also  from  his  didactic  prose  works.  Parallel  passages  from 
Boileau  and  from  the  Satire  make  the  case  perfectly  clear,  pp.  192-93. 

P.  55.  Menendez  y  Pelayo,  Ideas  Esteticas,  v.  V,  p.  156.  .  .  .  "como  si 
Hervas  y  Boileau  hubiesen  pensado  las  mismas  cosas  en  el  mismo  punto  y  cada 
cual  segun  el  genio  de  su  lengua  nativa." 

P.  55.  Vol.  VII,  art.  2.  Criticism  of  Maner's  "Compendio  Chronologico 
de  la  Historia  de  este  siglo."  "Muchos  dias  ha  estoy  muy  quejoso  de  las  costum- 
bres  de  este  siglo  en  Espaiia,  debiendo  el  conocimiento  de  ellas  a  algunos  Libros 
que  me  prestan  los  Estrangeros  que  me  conocen  aficionado." 

P.  56.  Diario,  v.  VI.  Prologue  41.  "En  las  mismas  Escuelas  nos  educamos 
que  todos  nuestros  Patricios  y  de  ellos  salimos  casi  con  las  mismas  aprehensiones 
6  preoccupaciones ;  de  suerte  que  nos  interessabamos  como  todos  en  la  estima- 
cion  de  nuestras  costumbres  Espafiolas  literarias,  nos  dejabamos  ocupar  de  la  ad- 
miracion  de  nuestros  escritores  6  leimos  qualquier  libro  como  necesario  para  nue- 
stra  ensenanza  y  pensabamos  bajamente  de  los  Estranjeros :  pero  deseosos  de 
informarnos  de  todo  comenzamos  a  leer  los  Autores  modernos  .  .  .  y  a  esto  se 
sigui6  el  conocer  la  infelicidad  de  nuestra  crianza  y  la  perdicion  de  quantos  nos 
imitan  en  ella.  Con  este  conocimiento,  lastimados  del  daiio  propio  y  ageno,  pro- 
pusimos  aplicar  nuestras  fuerzas  a  desengafian  nuestros  patricios  por  medio  de 
esta  'Invencion'  que  governada  con  mayor  fortuna  entre  los  extrangeros,  no  ha 
dejado  de  ser  perseguida  con  satiras  y  otras  hostilidades  como  saben  los  Eruditos." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

An    Organized    Group    of    Neo-Classicists.      The    Academy    "Del 

BuEN  Gusto." 

The  failure  of  the  "Diario"  to  spread  neo-classicism  broadcast 
throughout  Spanish  society  tended,  as  we  have  seen,  to  make  a  sharp 
Hne  of  cleavage  between  the  supporters  of  the  new  doctrines  and  those 
of  the  so-called  national  ideals. 

As  the  former  were  greatly  outnumbered  by  the  latter,  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at,  that,  adopting  the  usual  policy  of  minorities,  they  strove 
to  unite  into  compact  groups. 

The  premature  movement  of  popularization  started  by  the  Diario 
had  failed  but  it  had  rendered  a  service  to  the  cause  it  advocated  by  prov- 
ing that  neo-classicism  could  develop  only  as  a  slow  growth,  fostered  by 
the  careful  studies  of  a  few  chosen  men,  whose  influence  could  in  turn 
affect  the  more  literary  classes  of  Spain.  The  guidance  that  the  leaders 
of  such  groups  would  need  could  be  found  most  easily  of  course  in  the 
"Arte  Poetica"  of  Luzan.  Thus  what  we  called  the  spontaneous  manifesta- 
tion of  the  neo-classic  movement  died  out  because  of  its  untimely  radical- 
ism while  the  thought  of  Luzan,  more  serene  if  not  less  extreme,  became 
the  "vade  mecum"  of  those  leaders  whose  "entourage"  favored  the  intro- 
duction of  principles  of  discipline  into  Spanish  literature. 

The  "Academia  del  Buen  Gusto"  is  the  first  in  importance  as  well  as 
in  point  of  time  of  these  associations  of  literary  reformers.  V\'e  may 
then  give  the  year  1749  as  the  date  at  W'hich  the  neo-classic  movement 
passed  from  its  preliminary  stage  of  individual  endeavor  to  that  of  a  sys- 
tematic and  concrete  action. 

A  number  of  so-called  "academies"  based  on  Italian  models  had  exist- 
ed in  Spain  during  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  throughout 
the  seventeenth.  Their  aim  had  been  of  course  to  foster  the  national  or 
Gongoristic  school  of  poetry. ''* 

Along  with  the  decadence  of  letters  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  and  during  the  first  years  of  the  eighteenth,  interest  in  such 
organizations  had  waned.  The  "Academia  Matritense,"  of  which  Cahi- 
zares  and  Benegasi  were  members,  lasted  but  a  short  time  during  the 
reign  of  Philip  V.    As  can  be  inferred  from  the  authors  just  mentioned, 


^*  Cueto.     B.  A.  E.,  pp.  Ixxxvi-lxxxvii. 


62  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT   IN   SPAIN 

it  broucjht  together  a  group  of  men  whose  ideals  were  uncompromisingly 
in  favor  of  the  old  school  of  Castilian  poetry/^ 

The  Academy  of  Good  Taste,  organized  as  we  have  said  in  1749,  was 
fundamentally  different  from  its  predecessors,  though  it  retained  some 
points  in  common  with  them.  The  circumstances  of  its  foundation  gave 
it  the  character  of  a  French  salon  and  the  resemblance  of  this  literary 
body  to  the  group  of  wits,  scholars  and  noblemen  who  gathered  about 
the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet  almost  forces  itself  on  the  mind. 

The  wealthy  Countess  of  Lemos  who,  to  the  prestige  due  to  her 
rank,  added  the  charms  of  a  cultured  mind  and  much  personal  grace, 
gathered  about  her  the  men  of  talent  and  refinement  of  the  day.'®  Neo- 
classicism,  which  in  all  countries  had  thrived  best  in  the  studies  of 
scholars  or  amid  the  refined  surroundings  of  social  life,  found  in  the  draw- 
ing-rooms of  the  countess  the  kind  of  atmosphere  which  its  nature  needed 
most.  The  spirit  of  courtesy  and  self-restraint  which  pervaded  the  social 
atmosphere  of  a  drawing-room  given  to  ideals  of  P>ench  amenity  afforded 
exactly  the  kind  of  protection  w^liich  the  new  theories  needed.  This  hot- 
house atmosphere,  with  its  courteous  discussions,  its  respect  for  ration- 
ality and  its  ideals  of  simplicity  in  style  and  thought,  was  to  give  the  frail 
plant  of  neo-classicism  a  chance  for  life,  and  bring  about  a  time  when  it 
would  be  strong  enough  to  bear  transplantation  to  a  less  favorable  soil 
where,  nevertheless,  it  was  to  become  tenaciously  rooted.* 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  describe  the  Academy  of  Good  Taste  as  a 
solid  body  of  neo-classicists.  Pedants  or  scholars  such  as  Velazquez, 
Nasarre  and  Montiano  did  give  the  meetings  the  character  which  be- 
longed to  their  turn  of  mind,  but  this  heavy  if  well  meaning  influence 
was  strangely  modified  by  the  presence  of  many  noblemen  of  high  rank 
and  by  poets  such  as  Porcel,  Torrepalma  and  Villaroel. 

Parcel. — The  first  mentioned  of  these  poets,  Porcel,  was  quite  typical 
of  a  kind  of  mental  attitude  resulting  from  the  unsettled  conditions  of 
thought  at  that  time.  As  a  logician  and  as  a  man  of  sense  he  was  quite 
convinced  of  the  excellence  of  the  reform  which  was  being  started,  but 
his  intuition,  his  heart,  his  enthusiasm  were  still  firm  believers  in  the 
ideals  of  the  old  national  school. 

In  a  way  different  from  that  of  the  Romanticists,  his  head  and  his 
heart  were  at  odds  with  each  other  and  whenever  the  former  had  made 
a  clear  statement  of  its  creed  the  latter  would  reply  in  defiance  with  a 
burst  of  Gongoric  verse.  From  this  state  of  affairs  it  was  easy  for  the 
poet  to  grow  into  an  ironical  way  of  judging  his  own  work  and  Porcel 
indeed  often  hides  the  insecurity  of  his  position  by  pleasantly  laughing 

^5  Cueto.    B.  A.  E.,  p.  Ixxxviii. 

76  Cueto.    B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  Ixxxix. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  63 

at  himself.  This  translator  of  Boileau's  "Lutrin,"  ^^  under  the  fiction  of 
a  conclave  of  old  Spanish  poets  gathered  on  Parnassus,  has  given  us  in 
just  such  an  ironical  spirit  his  opinion  of  his  own  poem,  the  "hunting 
eclogue,"  entitled  the  Adonis.* 

By  a  speech  put  in  the  mouth  of  Bartolome  Leonardo  de  Argensola 
and  addressed  to  Lope,  Garcilaso  and  Rengifo,  he  roundly  condemns  his 
own  work,  which  is  in  its  very  title  a  contradiction  in  terms.  An  eclogue 
means  peace,  quiet  and  song ;  hunting  lends  itself  to  none  of  these.  .\s  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  hunting  eclogue  talks  about  hunting  but  gives  no 
hunting  scenes  at  all.  Whichever  way  one  may  look  at  that  poem  it  appears 
as  a  monster  having  no  place  in  any  neo-classic  system  of  classification. 
"iCuantas  cosas  quiere  que  sea  este  parto  que  no  lo  acabamos  de  fijar  en 
especie  alguna  del  mundo  poetico?"  What  good  can  be  derived  from  its 
supposed  moral,  that  "Love  in  a  forest  can  never  bring  happiness"? — 
"hermoso  titulo  para  una  comedia  de  las  muchas  que  hoy  nos  refieren  que 
ocupan  lastimosamente  los  teatros." 

The  neo-classic  critic  has  passed  judgment  and  there  is  not  much  left 
to  admire  in  the  hunting  eclogue.  Thus  Porcel  the  nco-classicist  deplores 
the  badness  of  his  ways  but  in  the  introduction  written  later,  when  it  be- 
came necessary  to  print  the  whole  work  to  forestall  unauthorized  editions, 
Porcel,  the  descendant  of  the  brilliant  school  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
while  repeating  the  self-condemnation  just  reported,  adds — "as  to  style, 
what  if  it  is  lofty,  for  hunters  are  princes  and  kings ;  what  if  the  nymphs 
are  rather  learned,  does  not  Gongora  say  'Culta  si  aunque  bucolica 
Talia'  ?"  And  the  poet  admits  frankly  that  he  has  aimed  to  copy  Gongora 
in  his  diction,  "Gongora  delicia  de  los  entendimientos  no  vulgares  de 
quien  te  confiesco  (lector)  hallaras  algunos  rasgos  de  luz  que  ilustren  las 
sombras  de  mi  poema."  "^  Then,  as  if  stricken  with  remorse  at  this  out- 
burst of  poetical  lawlessness,  he  adds  with  considerable  solemnity  that  the 
poem,  though  composed  of  four  loosely  bound  ecologues,  does  possess  an 
element  of  unity  since  all  four  of  the  poems  tend  to  prove — "Que  no  hay 
amor  en  las  selvas  sin  ventura."  ^^ 

Thus  Luzan  and  Gongora  in  turn  control  the  pen  of  this  versatile 
disciple  of  the  neo-classicists  but  these  changes,  as  we  have  already  re- 
marked, are  usually  presided  over  by  a  spirit  of  playful  irony.  In  one 
place  Porcel  has  given  us  his  true  attitude  towards  literary  criticism  and 
it  is  a  sane  compromise,  very  similar  to  the  well  balanced  views  of  Feijoo 
in  such  matters.  In  the  presence  of  Velazquez,  Nasarra  and  Montiano, 
Porcel  was  not  afraid  of  reading  the  following  speech  put  by  him  into  the 


"  Cueto.     B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  137. 
^8  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  140. 
79  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  140. 


64  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

mouth  of  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega.  "Confirmo  el  juicio  que  entre  los  mor- 
tales  hice  que  la  poetica  no  es  mas  que  opinion.  Le  poesia  es  genial  y  a 
excepcion  de  algunas  reglas  generales  y  de  la  sinderesis  universal  que 
tiene  todo  hombre  sensato,  el  poeta  no  debe  adoptar  otra  ley  que  la  de 
su  genio.  Se  ha  de  precipitar  como  libre  el  espiritu  de  los  poetas ;  por  eso 
nos  pintan  al  Pegaso  con  alas  y  no  f  reno ;  y  si  este  se  le  pone  como  intenta 
el  que  modernamente  ha  erigido  el  Parnaso  frances,  es  desatino  .  .  .  En 
vano  se  cansan  los  maestros  del  arte  en  senalar  estas  ni  las  otras  particu- 
lares  reglas,  porque  esto  no  es  otra  cosa  que  tiranizar  el  libre  pensar  del 
hombre  que  en  cada  uno  se  diferencia,  segun  la  fuerza  de  su  genio,  el 
valor  de  su  idioma,  la  doctrina  en  que  desde  sus  primeros  afios  lo  im- 
pusieron,  las  pasiones  que  lo  dominan  y  otras  muchas  cosas."  ^° 

Villarocl. — Villaroel  was  a  very  different  person  from  Porcel.  His 
presence  in  the  Academy  was  as  incongruous  as  would  have  been  that  of 
Canizares  himself. 

He  wrote  verse  with  facility  and  indulged  freely  in  the  Gongoristic 
style.  Cueto  found  the  following  lines  composed  by  Villaroel  on  the  oc- 
casion of  a  play  given  at  the  house  of  the  countess  and  in  which  she 
herself  had  taken  a  part : 

Excelentisima  siempre 

Y  dulcisima  sefiora. 

Que  por  tan  dulce  es  milagro 

Que  los  pajes  no  te  coman  .  .  . 

iQue  dire  de  tu  comedia? 

Pues  hasta  que  tu  persona 

En  ella  se  presento 

No  era  comedia  famosa  ... 

Zamora  que  de  Dios  goce 

6  que  ya  a  este  tiempo  goza 

Al  verte  a  ti  en  su  comedia 

Diria:    ("Solo  esto  es  gloria"  .  .  .) 

Saliste,  pues,  al  tablado 

Y  luego  que. el  pie  lo  toca 
Le  salieron  de  vergiienza 
Los  colores  al  alfombra 
Mas  ique  mucho,  si  traias, 
Noblemente  fanfarrona, 
Por  manos  dos  azucenas 

Y  por  ojos  dos  antorchas? 
A  mi  me  parecio  que  era 

A  un  tiempo  tu  voz  sonora 
Archilaud,  arpa,  clave 
Violin,  citara  y  tiorba  .  .  .^^ 


80  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  ci. 

81  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  xci. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  65 

Lines  of  this  type  show  clearly  enough  why  Cueto  considered  Villa- 
roel  one  of  those  poets  who  were  not  amenable  to  neo-classic  discipline, 
but  his  vivacity  and  his  good  nature  caused  the  serious  members  of  the 
Academy  to  forgive  him  his  many  sins  against  Aristotle  and  the  rules. 

A  sterner  side  of  this  man's  nature  is  shown  by  his  dislike  of  the 
French,  as  illustrated  by  some  lines  he  wrote  to  the  Marquis  of  Ensenada, 
minister  of  Ferdinand  VI,  and  which  Cueto  gives  us  in  the  ninth 
chapter  (B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  94)  of  the  Bosquejo: 

Castellana  es  esta  musa 

Y  mucho  mas  le  valiera 
Que  ser  musa  castellana 
Ser  una  musa  francesa ; 
Pues  dicen  que  nada  es  bueno 
Como  de  Paris  no  sea ; 

Y  hasta  la  misma  herejia 
Si  es  de  Paris  sera  acepta. 
iCuando  ha  de  llegar  el  dia 
Incauta  Espafia,   en  que   entiendas 
Que  aun  afilan  contra  ti 

Los  cuchillos  en  tus  piedras? 
iCuando  has  de  desengaiiarte 
De  que,  astuta,  Francia  intenta 
Introducirte  los  "usos" 
Para  ponerte  las  "ruecas"  ?  •* 

His  qualities  as  well  as  his  faults  made  Villaroel  unfit  to  sympathize 
with  the  ideas  of  the  more  important  members  of  the  Academy  and  the 
fact  that  he  was  a  welcome  guest  is  a  fine  testimonial  to  the  broad-mind- 
edness of  this  little  group  of  scholars  and  noblemen  who  listened  with 
undisturbed  affability  to  a  play  by  Zamora,  to  Gongoristic  verse  or  to 
heavy  discussions  on  neo-classic  subjects. 

Torrepalma. — Castillejo  y  Verdujo,  Count  of  Torrepalma,  was  prob- 
ably nearer  to  the  spirit  of  the  critics,  strictly  speaking,  than  the  two  men 
we  have  been  writing  about.  Cueto  finds  in  him  a  great  power  for  de- 
scriptions of  mighty  subjects  or  stupendous  actions  but  admits  that  he 
lacked  true  geniality  and  that  the  qualities  of  his  heart  were  hidden  by  his 
infatuation  for  decorum  and  obscurity.  Among  the  Academicians  he 
was  known  as  "El  Dificil"  and  the  first  lines  of  the  piece  of  poetry  he 
wrote  on  the  occasion  of  his  reception  among  the  members  of  the 
Academy  show  only  too  well  how  much  he  deserved  this  forbidding  title : 

Cascado  abete,  del  sagrado  mirto 
Donde  mi  olvido  te  dejo  pendiente 
(Voto  no  ya  del  triunfo  de  mi  canto. 


»2  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  V.  LXI,  p.  xciv. 

i 


66  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

Despojo  de  ocio  inculto  si)  desciende. 
Vuelva  a  pulsar  la  mano  del  sonoro 
Leno  las  dulces  cuerdas,  si  consiente 
El  polvo  antiguo  que  al  rozar  el  plectro 
Las  primitivas  clausulas  encuentre.^^ 

The  rest  of  the  poem  continues  solemn  and  full  of  cultured  obscurity 
lavishing  academic  and  Gongoristic  praise  on  the  high  deity  to  whom  the 
Muses  owe  their  renewed  life.  No  matter  what  Torrepalma's  attitude 
may  have  been  toward  the  other  neo-classic  rules  he  must  have  been  will- 
ing to  accept  and  to  preach  the  doctrine  of  decorum  even  in  its  most  ex- 
treme form.* 

Montiano. — Outside  of  Luzan,  the  best  known  critics  of  the  Academy 
were  Montiano,  Velazquez  and  Nasarre,  this  last  mentioned  author  being 
recognized  perhaps  as  the  weakest  of  the  three.  However  this  may  be, 
none  of  this  group  except  Luzan  did  as  much  as  Montiano  to  spread  the 
spirit  of  the  rule-loving  party.  He  was  a  scholarly  man,  a  member  of 
both  royal  academies  and  a  faithful  servant  of  the  King  in  the  capacity 
of  secretary  of  state.  The  salient  points  in  the  man's  character  were  the 
clearness  of  his  judgment,  his  intensely  patriotic  attitude  and  his  lack  of 
esthetic  sense.  The  tone  of  his  prose  is  always  that  of  a  strong  man, 
clear-headed  and  bold  without  arrogance.  The  principle  which  he  put 
forward  in  all  his  literary  controversies  was  that  Spain  was  being  looked 
down  upon  by  foreigners  because  of  the  folly  of  its  writers  and  that  it 
must  be  rescued  from  its  debased  condition.  Montiano  is  one  of  the  many 
patriotic  Spaniards  who  were  wounded  to  the  quick  by  these  scornful 
lines  of  Boileau's  "Art  Poetique" : 

Un  rimeur  sans  peril,  dela  les  Pyrenees, 
Sur  la  scene  en  un  jour  rassemble  des  annees : 
La  souvent  le  heros  d'un  spectacle  grossier, 
Enfant  au  premier  acte  est  barbon  au  dernier ;  ^* 

and,  if  it  is  impossible  not  to  admit  the  very  decided  limitations  of  Mon- 
tiano's  mind  along  artistic  lines,  it  is  equally  impossible  not  to  respect  the 
man  for  his  manly  and  patriotic  attitude  throughout  the  literary  struggle 
of  his  day. 

Montiano's  great  contribution  to  the  cause  he  upheld  is  of  course  hii 
two  tragedies  and  the  discourses  which  precede  them. 

Montiano  wrote  the  plays  entitled  "Virginia"  and  "Athaulfo"  with 
a  pretty  clear  knowledge  of  his  own  limitations.  There  is  something 
touching  in  the  way  this  sturdy  man  exposed  himself  to  criticism  hoping 


"  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  128. 

•*  Boileau,  Art  Poetique.    Canto  III,  line*  39-42. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  67 

that,  as  a  reward,  authors  better  gifted  than  himself  would  follow  his 
lead,  improve  upon  him  and  by  the  creation  of  some  regular  tragedy  of 
merit  undermine  the  reasons  on  which  hostile  foreigners  based  their  scorn 
for  Spanish  literature. 

Montiano's  First  Discourse. — The  first  discourse  and  the  tragedy 
entitled  "Virginia"  were  pubHshed  in  1751.  Previous  to  their  publication 
they  had  been  read,  discussed  and  approved  by  the  Academy  of  Good 
Taste.  We  may  well  consider  these  writings  of  Montiano  the  official 
platform  of  the  Academy.^' 

The  purpose  of  Montiano  in  writing  his  essays  was  twofold.  First 
he  wished  to  prove  to  impertinent  foreigners  that  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  neo-classicists  the  traditions  and  the  history  of  the  Spanish  stage 
were  not  to  be  despised.  Secondly  he  wanted  to  give  his  countrymen 
sound  advice  on  playwriting  and  on  the  art  of  acting.  Thus  we  find  that, 
throughout,  his  attitude  is  judicial.  He  desires  with  equal  ardor  to  make 
out  the  best  case  possible  for  the  dignity  of  the  stage  of  his  nation  and 
to  combat  the  errors  of  his  fellow  citizens.  His  patriotic  attitude  won 
many  to  his  cause.  The  "imprimatur"  attached  to  the  second  edition  re- 
marks upon  the  service  he  was  rendering  his  country.  "El  discurso  (no 
solo)  restituye  a  Espafia  las  propias  glorias  de  que  la  han  querido  des- 
pojar  los  Estrafios  quando  la  acusan  de  poco  fecunda  en  hombres  eru- 
ditos  quizas  por  servirse  de  sus  trabajos  para  erigirse  los  decantados 
trofeos  de  que  tanto  se  envanecen."  * 

To  serve  as  an  outline  to  his  discourse,  he  criticizes  a  work  entitled 
"El  Teatro  Espaiiol,"  printed  in  Paris  in  1738.  He  does  not  mention  the 
name  of  this  author  from  whom  he  takes  the  following  quotation :  * 
"Pour  les  tragedies  les  Espagnols  n'en  ont  point  car  on  ne  saurait  donner 
justement  ce  titre  a  quelques  uns  de  leurs  ouvrages  qui  le  portent  sans 
le  meriter;  telles  sont  la  Celestine  et  ITngenieuse  Helene  qui  ne  peuvent 
passer  tout  au  plus  que  pour  des  Romans  en  Dialogues."  ^^  The  com- 
ment of  Montiano  on  this  statement  is  that  the  author  is  badly  informed. 
There  have  been  regular  tragedies  in  Spain  and  of  the  two  works  just 
mentioned  one  is  a  tragi-comedy  and  the  other  a  "novela." 

Montiano  knew  nothing  of  Juan  del  Encina,  Gil  Vicente,  or  Torres 
Naharro,  or,  if  he  did,  they  were  not  considered  by  him  as  belonging  to 
the  Spanish  drama.  He  begins  his  disquisition  on  the  existence  of  regu- 
lar tragedies  in  Spain  by  mentioning  the  "Vergiienza  de  Agamemnon" 
and  the  "Hecuba  Triste"  of  Perez  de  Oliva.  He  calls  them  adaptations 
from  Sophocles,  whereas  modern  critics  call  them  simple  translations. 
These  complete  reworkings,  he  says,  appeared  before  1533  and  show  abso- 


88  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  p.  Ixxxii. 
•«  Discurso  I,  p.  6. 


68  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

lute  respect  for  the  unities,  admirable  character  portraiture  and  fine 
diction.*^ 

Indeed  the  play  known  under  the  name  of  "Policiana,  tragedia," 
which  appeared  in  Toledo  in  1547,  by  an  unknown  author,*  because 
of  its  twenty  acts  and  its  nineteen  actors  deserves  to  be  called  a  novel 
rather  than  a  play.  The  French  have  a  perfect  right  to  criticize  such 
productions  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  other  plays  to  be  consid- 
ered.®* Such  are  the  two  "Nise"  of  Geronimo  Bermiidez  whom  Nicolas 
Antonio  in  his  "Bibliotheca  Hispana"  knows  only  by  the  pseudonym  of 
Silva.  Nicolas  Antonio  believes  that  Bermiidez  was  posterior  to  Oliva,  the 
translator  of  some  plays  of  Sophocles.  This  error  arose  from  the  fact 
that  the  works  of  Oliva  were  printed  after  those  of  Bermudez.^®  But  to 
return  to  the  main  subject,  Montiano  agrees  with  Nasarre  that  Bermiidez 
observed  the  principal  rules  of  the  ancient  drama,  that  the  construction 
of  the  plot  and  qualities  of  the  style  were  both  admirable.®" 

From  the  tragedies  of  Juan  de  la  Cueva,  Montiano  can  derive  but 
little  comfort,  for,  if  the  tragedy  entitled  "Ruiz  Velasquez"  shows  excel- 
lent diction,  the  unities  are  violated.  The  same  is  true  of  "La  Muerte 
de  Telamon"  which  in  no  way  resembles  the  play  of  that  name  by 
Sophocles.  "La  muerte  de  Virginia"  has  two  actions.  As  for  the  "Prin- 
cipe de  Tyrano,"  if  it  possesses  the  unity  of  action,  its  plot  does  not  even 
approach  probability:  it  introduces  ghosts,  a  feature  which  good  Cath- 
olics must  always  look  upon  with  the  greatest  suspicion  when  it  is  not 
sanctioned  by  the  Church.*^ 

After  this  statement,  evidently  inspired  by  readings  from  Feijoo, 
Montiano  passes  to  Artieda.  He  had  of  course  read  nothing  from  that 
author,  but  he  granted  him  a  certificate  of  regularity  and  faithfulness 
to  rules,  basing  his  judgment  on  a  passage  from  the  sixth  book  of  the 
Galatea  where  Cervantes  speaks  very  flatteringly  of  the  author  in  ques- 
tion, though  his  praise  is  very  general  and  makes  no  reference  to  Aris- 
totelian tenets.®^  Montiano  makes  further  use  of  Cervantes  as  a  critic 
by  quoting  the  famous  passage  in  the  forty-eighth  chapter  of  the  Quijote, 
where  three  tragedies  whose  titles  are  not  stated  are  greatly  praised. 
There  were  good  tragedies  in  plenty,  concludes  Montiano.  We  know 
now  that  Cervantes  referred  to  three  plays  by  Leonardo  de  Argensola 
and  that  at  least  one  of  them  was  so  far  removed  from  the  neo-classic 


87  Discurso,  p.  6. 
**  Discurso,  p.  9. 
'•  Discurso,  pp.  10-14. 
•°  Discurso,  p.  17. 
"1  Discurso,  p.  21. 
»2  Discurso,  p.  24. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  69 

ideal  as  to  contain  a  scene  where  the  wicked  queen  bites  off  a  part  of 
her  tongue  to  spit  it  into  the  face  of  her  monstrous  husband  and  that 
in  the  course  of  the  action  every  person  of  the  tragedy  perishes,  with  the 
exception  of  a  messenger.  Possessed  of  this  knowledge,  it  is  difficult  for 
us  to  feel  confident  that  Cervantes  praised  the  plays  of  Artieda  because 
of  their  regularity  in  form  and  thought."*^ 

Judging  the  plays  of  Virues,  Montiano  severely  criticizes  "La  Gran 
Semiramis"  which,  to  use  his  words,  unites  "lo  peor  de  lo  antiguo  y  de 
lo  moderno."  "La  Cruel  Casandra"  respects  the  unities  but  it  is  spoiled 
by  its  large  number  of  acts  and  scenes  of  wholesale  slaughter.  "Atila 
Furioso"  is  regular  enough  but  love  rules  its  plot  and  Montiano  is  rather 
glad  to  have  to  deplore  this  fault  because  it  gives  him  the  opportunity 
to  quote  from  the  discourse  on  ancient  tragedy,  printed  in  1749  by  Vol- 
taire as  a  preface  to  "Semiramis."  In  it  Voltaire  condemned  the  prev- 
alence of  love  plots  in  tragedies,  since,  to  his  mind,  love  ought  to  be 
reserved  for  comedy. 

Montiano  agrees  heartily  with  a  view  which,  as  he  remarks,  brings 
no  less  than  388  French  tragedies  under  suspicion  of  literary  heresy, 
degrading  them  to  the  level  of  many  Spanish  plays.®* 

"La  Infeliz  Marcela"  is  rapidly  condemned  for  its  resemblance  to 
a  novel  and  Montiano  at  last  is  free  to  praise  "La  Elisa  Dido,"  the  one 
original  Spanish  play  which  he  can  bring  forth  as  regular  in  every  point. 
With  that  one  play  Montiano  would  dearly  wish  to  wipe  away  any  stigma 
of  irregularity  which  poorly  informed  foreigners  might  attach  to  the 
fair  name  of  the  Spanish  drama.  "No  puede  leerse  sin  admiracion  ni 
con  lastima  que  se  aparte  tanto  de  las  reglas  en  otras  quien  tan  puntual- 
mente  las  supo  guardar  en  esta."  ®^  for  the  "Elisa  Dido"  offers  an  elevating 
example  in  a  new  Dido  bound  to  remain  true  to  her  lawful  husband  and 
to  her  city.  The  action  lasts  but  three  or  four  hours  and  takes  place 
in  the  temple  of  Jupiter.  The  style  is  suitable  and  the  passions  are  well 
expressed. 

This  review  of  the  "EHsa  Dido"  of  Virues  and  of  its  fictitious  plot  is 
the  climax  of  Montiano's  defense  of  the  Spanish  stage.  There  is  little 
comfort  to  be  derived  from  the  plays  of  Christobal  de  Mesa.  "Pompeyo," 
in  spite  of  a  prologue  full  of  promise,  is  absolutely  irregular.  "Estran- 
isima  inconsequencia  discurrir  asi  y  executar  tan  diversamente."  ^^  Lope's 
tragedies  are  all  to  be  condemned.  Of  the  six  mentioned,  only  one,  "El 
Castigo  sin  Venganza,"  shows  any  sign  of  unity,  that  of  plot.     Equally 


83  Ticknor.     See  note  p.  147. 
•*  Discurso,  p.  49. 
95  Discurso,  p.  43. 
8"  Discurso,  p.  46. 


70  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

discouraging  are  the  plays  of  Mexia  de  la  Cerda,  Hurtado  Velarde,  Lo- 
pez de  Zarate,  and  particularly  discouraging  are  those  of  Thomas  de 
Anorbe  y  Corragel  whose  "Paulino"  and  its  prologue  must  be  denounced — 
"porque  no  crean  los  ignorantes  que  son  asi  .  .  .  las  tragedias  de  los 
Franceses  que  dice  que  imita."  "^ 

Montiano  must  have  felt  that  on  the  whole  this  review  of  the 
dramatic  history  of  his  country  did  not  carry  with  it  the  conviction  that 
the  neo-classic  school  had  had  in  any  sense  a  regular  development  in 
Spain. 

This  feeling  of  defect  may  be  the  cause  of  the  nature  of  his  last 
statement  on  this  subject.  In  it  he  reminds  us  that  his  essay  has  been 
right  along  a  refutation  of  the  French  work  mentioned  above.  Leaving 
Anorbe,  Montiano  makes  the  statement  that  there  are  many  plays  in 
manuscript  form  which  would  tend  to  disprove  further  the  initial  state- 
ment of  the  French  writer.  However,  since  from  the  nature  of  the  case 
it  was  impossible  for  that  author  to  have  known  any  of  these  manuscript 
works,  he,  Montiano,  will  not  now  speak  about  them  or  use  them  in  any 
way  to  prove  his  thesis  concerning  the  neo-classic  stage  in  Spain.* 

By  these  plays  in  manuscript  form  Montiano  must  have  meant  to 
refer  to  plays  written  according  to  Aristotelian  rules  by  some  of  his  asso- 
ciates of  the  Academy  of  Good  Taste,  plays  doomed  never  to  reach  a 
wider  circle  than  that  of  the  salon  which  had  fostered  their  creation.  Had 
he  had  in  his  possession  the  manuscripts  of  regular  plays  by  standard 
authors,  he  would  surely  have  made  use  of  them  to  strengthen  his  dis- 
course, the  weakness  of  which  he  fully  realized.  The  end  of  his  discourse 
admits  frankly  the  scantiness  of  the  result  of  his  study.  The  period  of 
the  regular  stage  in  Spain  was  indeed  very  short.  The  fact  remains 
that  it  is  a  far  cry  from  having  lost  the  road  to  never  having  been  on  it 
at  all.  Let  foreigners  who  undertake  to  pass  judgment,  do  so  consci- 
entiously and  only  after  due  consideration  of  the  facts  involved.^^ 

Montiano's  Second  Discourse. — In  the  essay  preceding  the  "Athaulfo," 
Montiano  takes  up  again  this  question  of  the  antiquity  of  the  regular 
stage  in  Spain.  Further  studies  had  brought  him  new  facts  and  his 
patriotic  pen  brings  them  forward  to  vindicate  the  honor  of  his  country. 
This  renewed  effort  is  made  easy  for  him  by  the  comforting  knowledge 
that  his  previous  discourse  has  been  received  favorably  at  home  and 
abroad.  "Entonces  animado  del  celo  conque  busco  en  quantas  ocasiones 
se  me  presentan  las  ventajas  de  mi  patria  me  resolvi  a  ofrecer  segunda 
vez  al  Publico  otro  discurso."  " 


'^  Discurso,  p.  63. 
•'  Discurso,  p.  79. 
•^  Discurso  II,  p.  6. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  71 

The  first  of  his  new  set  of  discoveries  is  Vasco  Diaz  Tanco  de  Fre- 
jenal,  who  already  in  his  youth  had  written  three  tragedies — "Absalom," 
"Amon"  and  "Saul."  By  middle  life  he  had  written  a  "Triunpho  NataHcio 
Hispano"  in  honor  of  the  birth  of  PhiHp  II,  that  is  for  the  year  1527. 
From  this  date  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  he  wrote  the  three  plays 
above  mentioned  about  1502  or  before  and,  if  this  were  the  case,  then 
Frejenal  would  have  ante-dated  Trissino,  whose  "Sophonisba"  was  played 
only  in  1520,  and  the  Spanish  classical  stage,  in  spite  of  its  slight  array  of 
plays,  would  be  older  than  that  of  any  other  nation. ^°° 

Since  Frejenal  was  a  disciple  of  Naharro  and  since  the  Propaladia 
was  already  published  in  1517,  the  chronological  argument  of  Montiano 
is  barely  possible,  but  nothing  is  known  of  the  plays  enumerated  save 
their  names,  and,  since  the  explicit  preface  of  Christobal  de  Mesa  proved 
to  be  such  a  poor  indication  of  the  contents  of  the  play  which  it  pre- 
ceded, surely  a  judgment  of  three  plays  based  only  on  the  nature  of 
their  titles  can  not  be  taken  seriously. 

In  naming  Guillen  de  Castro,  Cervantes,  Salas  Barbadillo,  Gabriel 
Lasso,  in  reporting  that  "Juan  de  Malara  assegura  escribio  la  de  Ab- 
salon"  and,  in  remarking  that  Pinciano  admits  without  surprise  that  he 
saw  "la  Ifigenia  en  el  teatro  de  la  Cruz,"  Montiano  does  not  strengthen 
his  thesis.^"^ 

His  statement  about  the  performance  of  Latin  tragedies  by  the 
students  of  Jesuit  schools  is  interesting.  It  evidently  refers  to  perfor- 
mances of  the  type  mentioned  by  Montaigne  when  he  tells  us  that  he 
played  in  one  entitled  "Caesar."  Under  such  auspices  Montiano  tells 
us  that  in  1571  "El  Martirio  de  San  Lorenzo"  was  performed  in  honor 
of  Philip  IL^o^ 

With  a  mention  of  Boscari's  translation  from  Euripedes  and  a  state- 
ment to  the  effect  that  a  large  number  of  tragi-comedies  could  be  made 
regular  by  very  slight  emendations  Montiano  ends  his  discourse  on  the 
Spanish  Drama.^°^  The  reader  is  satisfied  that  Montiano  with  his  limited 
knowledge  of  the  Spanish  drama  has  done  whatever  he  could  do  to  vin- 
dicate what  he  felt  was  the  literary  honor  of  his  country. 

The  conclusion  of  this  subject  will  now  allow  us  to  take  up  the 
theoretical  discussions  and  the  model  plays  which  Montiano  had  pre- 
pared for  the  instruction  of  contemporary  Spanish  writers.  To  be  per- 
fectly logical  we  should  go  back  to  the  second  half  of  the  first  discourse 
and  then  take  up  the  tragedy  entitled  "Virginia,"  only  to  return  later  to 

100  Discurso  II,  p.  8. 

101  Discurso  II,  p.  10. 

102  Discurso  II,  p.  11. 

103  Discurso  II,  pp.  14-17. 


72  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

the  second  half  of  the  second  discourse  and  to  "Athaulfo,"  the  second 
tragedy.  The  nature  of  the  end  of  that  second  discourse  is  such  how- 
ever that  it  will  be  more  convenient  to  speak  about  it  now. 

It  consists  of  a  number  of  useful  remarks  criticizing  some  of  the 
lacks  and  some  of  the  abuses  which  interfered  with  the  proper  perfor- 
mance of  plays  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

With  his  usual  need  of  a  specific  authority  Montiano  bases  his  dis- 
course on  the  thirteenth  letter  of  Pinciano's  *  "Philosophia  Antigua," 
drawing  information  as  well  from  Luzan's  "Poetica"  and  from  his  "Me- 
morias  Literarias  de  Paris,"  ch.  10-11.^°*  Following  such  guidance,  Monti- 
ano proceeds  to  preach  verisimilitude  and  decorum  in  personal  fitness  and 
in  the  costumes  of  actors.  He  urges  pastoral  scenery  for  pastoral  plays, 
fortifications  for  warlike  performances,  adding  the  further  advice  that 
demi-lunes  and  the  Vauban  style  of  fortifications  can  not  serve  as  settings 
for  plays  supposed  to  take  place  in  antiquity.^"^  With  such  simple  ad- 
monitions, which  really  sound  too  simple  to  be  worth  quoting  at  length, 
Montiano  preaches  the  doctrine  of  local  color. 

We  shall  see  later  that,  in  "Virginia,"  Montiano  had  taken  some  liber- 
ties with  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  place.  In  the  discourse  which  we  are 
considering  he  makes  amends  for  this  sin.  He  has  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  only  the  strictest  interpretation  of  the  rule  is  to  be  countenanced.^"* 

Passing  condemnation  on  the  "entremes"  which  intereferes  with  the 
unity  of  plot  and  on  the  prompter  who  is  too  much  in  evidence  *  and  too 
noisy,  Montiano  advises  that  the  number  of  supernumeraries  to  be  shown 
on  the  stage  be  kept  down  to  a  reasonable  figure.^**^  Then  he  passes  to 
the  subject  of  acting  and  general  bearing. 

He  gives  very  definite,  too  definite  directions  for  the  carriage  of  the 
head,  the  use  of  the  eyes  and  lips,  the  movements  of  the  arm,  the  positions 
of  the  hand  and  the  way  to  walk  about  the  stage.  In  short  he  gives  a 
more  complete  resume  of  Ricci's  "L'Art  du  Theatre  a  Paris"  than  had 
been  done  by  Luzan,  and  to  it  he  adds  Pinciano's  rules  of  elocution.* 

With  the  discussion  of  such  minute  points  the  subject  matter  of  the 
discourse  comes  to  an  end. 

The  last  paragraph  is  an  apology  for  his  work  against  probable  de- 
tractors and  a  statement  to  the  eflfect  that  such  discussions  as  the  one 
just  completed  have,  in  all  ages,  been  worthy  of  the  efforts  of  the  most 
respectable  pens. 

"*  Discurso  II,  pp.  18-19. 

^0"  Discurso  II,  p.  31. 

io«  Discurso  III,  p.  33,  refuting  Discurso  I,  p.  97. 

^oT  Discurso  II,  pp.  43-51. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  73 

Now  we  are  at  liberty  to  revert  to  that  part  of  the  first  discourse 
which,  properly  speaking,  deals  with  the  neo-classic  theories  of  the  drama. 

It  has  been  shown  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  writers  of  the  old  school 
had  succeeded  in  composing  regular  plays.  What  has  once  been  done 
can  be  done  again,  and  the  tragedy  "Virginia"  is  written  only  to  prove 
the  truth  of  this  last  statement.  May  this  example  encourage  men  gifted 
with  natural  talent  to  take  up  this  line  of  work  and  carry  it  on  success- 
fully.io» 

Montiano's  intention  is  now  to  judge  his  own  work  with  the  same 
rigor  shown  by  him  in  the  examination  of  the  plays  considered  in  the  first 
half  of  this  discourse.  "Hare  para  lograrlo  un  menudo  examen  de  todo 
el  .  .  .  tocando  donde  conviniere  ...  las  reglas  .  .  .  sin  que  se  entienda 
que  pretendo  persuadir  que  ha  salido  mi  obra  sin  tacha  alguna  ni  discrep- 
ancia  de  aquellos  principios.  .  .  ." "'  He  will  welcome  the  further 
criticisms  of  Spanish  and  foreign  authors.  The  nature  of  his  remarks  is 
going  to  be  determined  by  the  works  of  well  known  neo-classic  scholars, 
but,  to  avoid  a  display  of  pedantry,  he  is  not  going  to  quote  his  authori- 
ties.^^" The  reader  is  grateful  to  him  for  his  decision,  for  his 
scheme  of  criticism  consists  of  the  elements  of  the  art  such  as  could  be 
gathered  from  the  perusal  of  the  chapter  headings  of  any  good  work  on 
the  rules,  and  constant  references  and  quotation  marks  would  only  add 
to  the  irksomeness  of  a  subject  already  not  over-rich  in  qualities  likely  to 
stimulate  the  imagination. 

It  will  make  the  rest  of  the  discourse  clearer  if  at  this  point  we  give 
a  brief  analysis  of  the  tragedy  to  be  so  minutely  discussed. 

Montiano's  "Virginia." — Montiano  drew  the  material  of  his  plot 
from  Livy  and  from  Dionysus  of  Halicarnassus ;  he  had  no  knowledge  at 
the  time  of  the  existence  of  the  plays  of  Cueva  and  of  Campistron,  which 
are  entitled  "Virginia." 

The  plot  runs  as  follows  :^^^  Virginia  is  betrothed  to  Icilius  but  it 
is  known  that  Claudius  the  decemvir  and  the  political  enemy  of  Icilius 
has  conceived  a  lustful  passion  for  Virginia  and  that  so  far  he  has  not 
dared  to  confess  it  openly. 

As  Virginia  comes  to  the  Forum  to  take  part  in  a  religious  festival 
with  other  Roman  ladies  she  tells  us  so  much  of  the  plot  in  a  dialogue 
with  her  maid  Publicia.  She  adds  that  she  is  in  a  chronic  state  of  fear 
lest  she  should  meet  Claudius. 

Icilius  now  comes  and  finds  his  lady  in  great  dismay  at  the  appre- 

losDiscurso  I,  p.  80. 
lO'Discurso  I,  p.  81. 
"ODiscurso  I,  p.  82.' 
"1  Discurso  I,  pp.  128  S. 


74  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

hension  caused  her  by  the  danger  to  which  she  deems  herself  particularly 
exposed  on  this  day  when  her  duties  compel  her  to  be  in  the  Forum.'  At 
first  she  will  not  explain  the  cause  of  her  grief,  but  as  Icilius  sees  in  her 
tears  the  evidence  of  some  undiscovered  wrong  committed  against  him, 
Virginia,  to  silence  his  suspicions,  is  compelled  to  reveal  to  him  her  knowl- 
edge of  the  decemvir's  love,  a  knowledge  which  so  far  had  not  reached  Icil- 
ius. The  lover,  filled  with  rage  at  this  revelation,  is  about  to  start  to  wreak 
bloody  vengeance  on  Claudius  when  Numitor,  Virginia's  uncle,  contrives 
to  check  the  young  man's  angry  haste  by  telling  him  that  he  \vould  do 
better  first  to  seek  the  alliance  of  Valerian  and  of  Horace,  two  senators, 
who  have  great  power  over  the  common  people.  In  case  Claudius  tries  to 
use  violence  against  Virginia  their  help  will  be  invaluable.  Icilius  leaves 
to  accomplish  this  mission  and  Numitor  sends  a  messenger  to  Lucius, 
Virginia's  father,  who  is  in  command  of  some  troops  not  far  from  the 
city. 

In  spite  of  these  promises  of  help,  it  is  only  with  a  mind  full  of  the 
darkest  forebodings  that  Virginia  proceeds  to  the  temple  with  her  ladies. 

The  second  act  opens  with  a  long  monologue  by  Claudius  who  bewails 
the  fact  that  he  who  controls  the  Roman  empire  should  find  such  resist- 
ance in  a  woman's  heart.  His  client,  Marcus,  assures  him  that  vulgar  minds 
obey  the  servile  laws  of  virtue  but  that  a  man  who  has  control  over  the 
state  can  easily  put  aside  the  ordinary  rules  of  good  conduct  and  morality. 
This  advice  is  no  sooner  given  than  Valerian  and  Horace  appear  and 
question  Claudius  concerning  the  death  of  the  Roman  general  Siccius 
who,  it  is  rumored,  was  murdered  through  the  orders  of  Claudius  him- 
self. In  a  burst  of  rage  the  decemvir  denies  the  accusation  and  utters 
such  threats  against  his  accusers  that  the  two  senators  subsequently  decide 
to  unite  their  cause  to  that  of  Icilius  and  to  insure  the  downfall  of 
Claudius. 

Icilius  is  now  made  to  see  that  his  duty  and  his  love  both  require  him 
to  attack  Claudius  and  the  act  ends  with  his  threatening  words  against 
the  tyrant. 

The  third  act  offers  to  Claudius  the  long  wished  for  opportunity  to 
declare  his  love  to  Virginia  whom  he  meets  in  the  Forum  accompanied 
by  her  ladies. 

First  the  villain  flatters,  then  he  threatens.  His  efforts  are  of  no 
avail  and  Virginia  retires  predicting  that  the  gods  will  punish  him  for  his 
audacity.  Claudius  is  now  ready  to  listen  to  the  advice  of  Marcus  who 
urges  prompt  and  violent  action.  A  diversion  is  brought  about  by  Icilius, 
who,  prompted  by  Numitor,  comes  to  offer  his  services  to  Claudius  and 
very  properly  receives  only  insults  from  his  angry  rival.  As  Icilius  gives 
vent  to  his  renewed  indignation,  Virginia  reappears  asking  for  redress. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  75 

Icilius  promises  that,  before  the  setting  of  the  sun,  she  shall  be  avenged. 

The  beginning  of  the  fourth  act  reveals  the  plan  that  Marcus  has 
suggested  to  his  master.  The  client  of  the  decemvir  intends  to  claim  the 
person  of  Virginia  under  the  fiction  that,  far  from  being  a  Roman  leader's 
daughter,  she  is  only  the  offspring  of  a  slave  of  his.  Her  supposed 
father,  Lucius,  illegally  adopted  her,  thus  taking  his  property  away  from 
Marcus. 

This  dishonest  plan  is  carried  out  successfully  and  Claudius  contrives 
to  appear  on  the  scene  to  give  Marcus  official  sanction  to  the  act.  For- 
tunately Numitor  and  Icilius  rush  in  in  time  to  rescue  Virginia  from  her 
captors.  Claudius,  fearing  that  Icilius  may  have  a  numerous  following, 
grants  Virginia  a  fair  trial  and  in  the  meantime  leaves  her  in  the  care  of 
her  uncle,  Numitor. 

It  now  appears  that  Icilius,  because  of  the  crafty  dilatoriness  of 
Valerian  and  Horace,  had  the  merest  handlful  of  followers  with  him. 
Virginia  exults  at  the  thought  of  the  bravery  of  her  lover.  Would  that 
she  were  not  already  his,  so  that  she  might  now  give  him  all  her  love. 

Lucius,  the  old  father,  is  introduced  in  the  fifth  act;  he  has  just 
returned  to  the  city  after  receiving  Numitor's  message.  The  old  veteran 
knows  of  course  the  absolute  falseness  of  the  charge  made  by  Marcus 
against  his  daughter,  yet  such  is  his  fear  of  the  power  of  Claudius  that  it 
is  only  with  the  gravest  misgivings  that  he  leads  his  daughter  to  the  trial 
ordained  by  the  decemvir. 

The  case  is  argued  before  Claudius  and,  though  it  is  by  no  means 
clear  that  Virginia  is  to  be  degraded  from  her  rank,  the  aged  father, 
losing  heart,  begs  to  be  allowed  to  speak  privately  with  his  daughter.  The 
request  is  granted  on  the  condition  that  Marcus  is  to  be  allowed  to  stand 
at  a  short  distance. 

During  the  absence  of  the  three.  Valerian  and  Horace  threaten 
Claudius,  but  soon  the  father  reappears  announcing  that  he  has  killed  his 
daughter  and  Marcus  as  well,  for  such  a  course  was  the  only  way  to  safe- 
guard the  honor  of  the  family. 

Icilius,  mad  with  grief,  rushes  upon  the  decemvir,  who  seeing  that 
the  mob  is  siding  with  his  enemy  takes  to  flight.  Soon  Icilius  returns 
announcing  the  death  of  the  tyrant  and  the  tragedy  ends  with  tliese  words 
of  Publicia : 

"Vamos  Icilio,  vamos :   pero  sea 
Sin  olvidar  en  ambos  exemplares 
De  los  dos  delinquentes  insepultos, 
Y  de  la  pompa  funebre  que  trazas, 
Que  jamas  la  virtud  quedo  sin  premie 
Ni  se  Hbro  la  culpa  del  castigo." 


76  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

This  outline  will  allow  us  to  to  follow  easily  the  critical  remarks 
made  by  Montiano  on  his  own  play. 

He  starts  with  this  definition — "Este  poema  es  la  imitacion  de  una 
accion  heroica  completa  a  que  concurren  muchas  personas  en  un  mismo 
paraje  y  en  un  mismo  dia  y  que  consiste  su  principal  fin  en  formar  6  rec- 
tificar  las  costumbres  excitando  el  terror  y  lastima."  ^^^ 

This  discourse  develops  and  illustrates  the  points  mentioned  in  the 
definition  basing  its  remarks  on  the  "Virginia." 

It  might  be  objected  at  the  very  start  that  Virginia  being  of  plebeian 
blood  is  not  a  proper  person  to  be  the  heroine  of  a  tragedy.  This  criti- 
cism would  be  met  by  pointing  out  the  fact  that  the  common  people  of 
the  Romans  of  those  days  were  fully  the  equals  of  what  is  considered 
the  nobility  among  ordinary  nations.  If  such  an  argument  were  not  suf- 
ficient it  may  be  added  that  the  unusual  beauty  of  Virginia  was  enough 
in  itself  to  place  that  young  woman  among  the  best  born  of  her  sex.^^' 
The  action  dealing  with  the  love  aflPairs  of  historically  important  char- 
acters is  thoroughly  unified  in  spite  of  the  slight  undercurrent  of  political 
intrigue.^^* 

The  plot  is  revealed  in  its  general  lines  with  remarkable  swiftness. 
The  reader  is  plunged  "in  medias  res"  with  the  first  scene  of  the  first  act 
where  Virginia  sketches  out  the  situation  in  her  dialogue  with  her  confi- 
dente.  Icilius  in  the  third  scene  of  the  same  act  completes  that  sketch. 
Soon  after,  Numitor  "rompe  el  hilo  y  le  aunda  sin  violencia."  The  knot 
remains  tied,  the  reader  knows  all  the  conditions  and  yet  he  can  not 
predict  the  end.^"  Virginia's  burst  of  indignation  in  the  third  act  disarms 
Claudius  for  the  moment,  greatly  increasing  the  excitement  of  the  spec- 
tator who  knows  that  such  humiliation  inflicted  on  such  a  man  must  per- 
force drive  him  to  desperate  action.  But  what  that  action  will  be,  the 
spectator  cannot  predict  and  he  is  startled  by  the  rapidity  of  the  "de- 
nouement" in  the  fifth  act  when  an  unexpected  and  bloody  ending  settles 
all  the  problems  accumulated  during  the  play.  Every  doubtful  point  is 
accounted  for  "en  la  ultima  escena  del  Acto  V.  en  lo  que  no  deja  que 
dudar  Icilio  sobre  ninguna  de  estas  circunstancias."  ^^® 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  plot  of  Montiano's  tragedy  is  constructed 
with  great  care ;  it  is  logical  in  the  main. 

It  may  seem  to  us  that  Virginia  weeps  too  abundantly  in  the  first  act, 
since  Claudius  has  not  even  said  a  word  to  her,  and  the  reader  is  not 

112  Discurso  I,  p.  85. 
"^Discurso  I,  p.  86. 
11*  Discurso  I,  p.  86. 
115  Discurso  I,  p.  92. 
"«  Discurso  I,  p.  97. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  71 

absolutely  convinced  of  the  greatness  of  a  father  who  kills  his  daughter 
when  it  seems  clear  that  he  might  save  her  by  making  a  show  of  martial 
courage,  but,  on  the  whole,  the  interdependence  of  the  scenes  is  easily 
discerned.  If  such  qualities  of  logic  and  clearness  were  able  to  fill  an 
audience  with  consternation  and  pity,  Montiano  would  have  written  an 
excellent  tragedy.  But  after  all  is  said  and  done,  emotions  in  an  audi- 
ence are  aroused  either  by  the  qualities  of  life  in  the  characters  of  the 
play  listened  to  or  by  the  poetical  beauty  of  the  diction.  The  "Virginia" 
possesses  neither  of  these  qualities. 

The  characters  are  perfect  from  the  geometrical  standpoint.  Mon- 
tiano brings  modestly  as  his  own  contribution  to  the  neo-classic  code  a 
fourth  unity,  that  of  character."^  This  fourth  unity  does  harm  to  Mon- 
tiano in  two  ways.  First  it  makes  one  suspect  that  our  author  was  not 
as  well  read  in  neo-classic  matters  as  first  appeared.  Secondly  it  is  the 
too  rigid  appUcation  of  that  fourth  unity  which  deprives  the  characters 
of  the  tragedy  of  every  trace  of  life  and  reality.  These  beings  are  in- 
deed of  a  delightfully  simple  psychological  makeup.  The  only  actors  suf- 
ficiently simple  in  their  physical  self  to  be  in  keeping  with  souls  so  lack- 
ing in  complexity  are  those  who  have  only  two  or  three  gestures  cor- 
responding to  as  many  pulls  applied  to  a  pair  of  strings. 

Virginia  is,  throughout,  Roman  and  stoic.  In  the  first  act.  Publicia, 
who  is  always  modest  and  religious,  says  to  her  mistress : 

"O  que  bien  tu  conducta  corresponde 
a  ser  hija  de  Lucio  y  Numitoria 
y  a  haber  creido  las  prudentes  reglas 
que  te  dicto  la  ley  de  mi  cuidado ! 
Tu  voluntad  no  quiere  sino  al  duefio 
que  la  razon  paterna  te  sefiala: 
tu  juicio  no  se  inclina  a  lo  dudoso 
y  solamente  elige  a  lo  seguro  .  ,  . 
Todo  es  en  ti  perfecto  .  .  ." 

Later,  she  herself: 

"Sabre  tolerar,  morir  constante 
y  oponerme  al  furor;  me  lo  asegura 
mi  espiritu ;  mas  luego  la  victoria 
sera  transcendental  al  Pueblo  mio  ?"  ^** 

.  .  .  Such  a  Roman  soul  was  given  her  by  Jupiter  .  .  . 

Por  Ventura 
fue  porque  en  mi  tambien  se  verifique 
que  no  hay  nada  pequeiio  en  la  gran  Roma."* 


1"  Discurso  I,  pp.  104-105. 
"'Discurso  II,  p.  127.    Act  I,  Sc.  1. 
"»  Discurso  II,  p.  133.    Act  I,  Sc.  2. 


78  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

And  throughout  the  five  acts  her  actions  are  all  of  the  character  indicated 
by  the  spirit  expressed  in  these  quotations. 

Likewise  Icilius  is  consistently  intrepid;  wisdom  sits  always  by  the 
side  of  Numitor.  "En  Claudio  me  figuro  que  no  hay  mezcla  que  enerve 
el  furioso  vigor,  conque  es  forzoso  que  procedan  y  se  acrediten  unos 
vicios  tan  desenfrenados  como  irresponsibles  de  corregir."  "°  The  fol- 
lowing words  are  worthy  of  such  a  consistently  depraved  person: 

Experimente,  Virginia,  lo  que  puede 
quien  rige  a  Roma  por  que  no  es  regido 
que  hasta  la  religion  se  prostituya 
a  lo  que  su  capricho  le  proponga.^" 

And  so  it  goes  on  with  Marcus,  who  is  obviously  base  during  five  acts, 
with  Valerian  and  Horace,  intellectual  twins,  whose  discourses  are  per- 
fectly interchangeable  and  who  always  clothe  "sus  particulares  fines  en 
el  velo  de  la  libertad."  ^" 

So  much  for  the  characters.  As  for  the  diction,  Montiano  chose  the 
blank  verse  because  of  its  great  possibilities  in  the  imitation  of  prose,  far 
superior  to  rhymed  verse  because  it  does  not  distract  the  mind  by  its 
clanging  of  sounds.  "Un  verso  sin  consonantes,  que  es  mas  parecido 
a  la  prosa,  comun  lenguage  de  los  hombres."  "^  And  he  adds  that  not  only 
did  Luzan,  Pinciano  and  Cascales  agree  "de  que  no  es  necesario  el  metro 
para  los  Poemas  fipico  y  Dramatico,"  but  Garcilaso,  Virues,  Jauregui, 
Quevedo  have  all  given  him  precedents  in  this  matter.^^*  As  in  the 
matter  of  the  unity  of  character,  Montiano  succeeded  far  too  well  in  his 
effort  to  write  unobtrusive  verse;  no  prose  could  have  less  cadence  than 
the  majority  of  the  lines  of  the  "Virginia." 

If  Montiano  did  not  believe  in  the  necessity  of  verse  in  tragedies, 
he  was  convinced  that  the  style  of  such  a  piece  of  writing  should  be  no- 
ble and  elevated.  To  avoid  all  mention  of  the  particular  is  of  course 
one  method  of  raising  language  above  the  ordinary  way  of  speaking. 
This  is  why  Montiano  quite  consistently,  instead  of  making  his  characters 
speak  directly,  makes  them  express  themselves  in  terms  of  the  abstract 
qualities  or  conditions  of  their  soul  or  in  terms  of  parts  of  their  body.  In- 
stead of  hearing  how  Virginia  and  Claudius  feel,  we  hear  how  their  soul  is 
stirred,  instead  of  hearing  how  they  are  dismayed  or  angered,  \\q  are  told 
about  the  state  of  dismay  or  anger  of  their  soul,  the  depth  of  their  grief 
or  the  increase  of  their  ire.     The  subjects  of  verbs  are  altogether  too 


"0  Discurso  I,  pp.  106-107. 
"1  Discurso  I.    Act  III,  Sc.  3. 
"2  Discurso  I,  p.  108. 
^23  Discurso  I,  p.  112. 
"*  Discurso  I,  p.  113. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  79 

often  such  terms  as  necessity,  suspicion,  deceit,  cunning,  conduct,  arm, 
hand,  anger,  rage,  all  of  which  could  be  advantageously  suppUed  by  per- 
sonal pronouns  or  by  the  proper  names  of  the  persons  who  do  the  acting 
or  feeling  or  who  are  spoken  of  as  acting  or  feeling.*  This  mania  for 
the  abstract  term  tends  as  much  as  the  geometrical  construction  of  the 
intellects  and  hearts  of  the  characters  to  make  them  absolutely  unreal, 
and  to  make  the  tragedy  unreadable. 

With  such  defects  in  the  psychology  of  the  play  and  in  the  diction, 
defects  which  of  course  are  shared  equally  by  all  second-rate  neo-classic 
plays  in  all  countries,  it  does  not  matter  much  to  the  reader  whether  the 
stage  is  always  full,  whether  the  unities  are  fairly  well  kept  and  whether 
the  moral  lesson  is  clearly  stated  or  not.  Nor  is  he  likely  to  feel  either 
one  way  or  the  other  concerning  the  doubts  which  Montiano  entertains 
about  the  advisability  of  the  liberties  he  has  taken  with  the  unity  of  place. 
Instead  of  taking  one  spot  on  the  Forum  seen  always  the  same  at  each 
rising  of  the  curtain,  Montiano  had  imagined  taking  various  parts  of  the 
Forum  but  always  at  such  an  angle  that  the  spot  which  appeared  as  the 
scene  of  the  first  act  could  be  seen  and  recognized.^ ^'^  This,  ^lontiano 
brought  forth  as  a  new  solution  to  the  knotty  problem  of  the  unity  of 
place  and  he  felt  that  his  idea  was  a  better  one  than  that  imagined  by 
Luzan  who  wanted  to  have  parallel  sets  of  stage  settings.  We  have  seen 
that  in  his  second  discourse  Montiano  was  to  recant  from  all  such  here- 
sies and  come  out  uncompromisingly  in  favor  of  the  strictest  idea  of 
unity  of  place.^^' 

In  spite  of  the  qualities  pointed  out  and  in  spite  of  the  interest  which 
should  be  awakened  by  the  discussion  of  technical  points,  the  reader,  if 
his  efifort  carries  him  through  the  whole  tragedy,  at  last  closes  the  book 
with  a  distinct  sense  of  weariness.  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  he 
has  lost  his  respect  for  Montiano.  Far  from  it.  The  author  has  made 
his  case  too  clear  at  the  beginning  of  his  discourse.  The  tragedy  may  be 
stillborn,  but  we  know  that  its  author  entertained  no  illusions  about  its 
actual  charms  and  the  absence  of  all  elements  of  self-deception  on  the  part 
of  the  author  removes  much  of  the  unpleasant  sensation  given  by  bad 
plays  written  by  vainglorious  authors. 

Montiano' s  Athanlfo. — It  would  be  useless  to  analyze  "Athaulfo" 
with  the  same  degree  of  care  which  we  have  put  on  "Virginia." 

It  is  an  historical  drama  based  on  the  story  of  the  Gothic  King,  who, 
influenced  by  his  Roman  wife,  Placidia,  has  decided  to  sign  a  lasting 
peace  with  his  brother-in-law,  the  Roman  Emperor. 

Rosamunda  who  before  the  coming  of  Placidia  had  hoped  to  share 


"5  Diario  I,  p.  97. 

128  See  page  118  of  this  essay. 


80  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

the  throne  with  Athaulfo  now  sees  an  opportunity  for  revenge.  She  ex- 
cites her  lover,  Sigerico,  and  his  base  friend,  Vernulpho,  against  the 
King.  Sigerico  is  told  that  the  throne  will  also  win  for  him  the  hand  of 
Rosamunda.  The  Roman  ambassador,  Constance,  whose  position  at 
court  is  similar  to  that  of  Orestes  in  Racine's  Andromaque,  is  aware  of 
the  conspiracy  against  Athaulfo.  The  death  of  Athaulfo  would  suit  his 
purpose ;  he  is  too  loyal  to  join  with  the  King's  enemies  and  too  weak  to 
denounce  them. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Athaulfo  has  discovered  the  plot  which  Rosa- 
munda and  Sigerico  are  planning  against  him  but  he  relies  absolutely  on 
the  great  power  which  the  divine  right  of  kings  gives  him  and  in  spite  of 
all  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  conspirators  he  keeps  his  faith  in  his  wife. 

Knowing  that  the  hostility  of  Sigerico  is  due  to  his  desire  to  win 
Rosamunda's  hand  Athaulfo  decides  to  announce  the  signing  of  the 
treaty  with  Rome  and  to  give  to  Sigerico  Rosamunda's  hand  at  the  same 
solemn  state  function. 

Athaulfo  gathers  his  court  and  after  a  rapid  review  of  the  history 
of  the  Goths  he  mentions  the  peace  treaty  with  Rome  which  he  calls  the 
natural  conclusion  of  a  brilliant  series  of  wars  and  conquests.  He  then  pro- 
ceeds to  announce  his  decision  to  unite  two  great  Gothic  houses  in  the 
persons  of  Sigerico  and  Rosamunda.  No  sooner  has  he  stated  his  will 
in  the  matter  than  Rosamunda  cries  out  that  so  far  Sigerico  has  done 
nothing  to  deserve  her  love.  Aroused  by  these  words  the  Gothic  noble- 
man steps  forward  and  denounces  the  treaty  as  a  treacherous  means 
employed  by  Athaulfo  to  put  the  Goths  at  the  mercy  of  the  Romans. 

In  the  confusion  which  follows  this  declaration,  Vernulpho  stabs  the 
King  from  behind  just  as  he  was  about  to  draw  his  blade  against  Sigerico 
who  himself  advanced  sword  in  hand. 

Then  and  there,  however,  stops  the  success  of  the  conspirators,  for 
Valia,  a  noble  Goth,  rallies  the  people  to  avenge  the  King,  Vernulpho  is 
quickly  killed,  and  soon  we  hear  of  the  death  of  Sigerico.  Rosamunda 
sees  that  all  her  hopes  are  lost.  Placidia,  whom  Constance  has  revived 
from  a  fainting  spell,  assures  her  enemy  of  her  merciful  protection  but 
the  haughty  woman  can  not  stand  such  humiliation;  she  leaps  out  of  the 
window  and  dies  miserably. 

The  play  ends  with  a  few  lines  spoken  by  the  Roman  ambassador 
expressing  his  hope  that  time  may  lessen  Placidia's  grief  and  make  him 
the  object  of  her  affection."^ 

"Athaulfo"  is  in  a  way  a  better  play  than  "Virginia."  The  use  of  ab- 
stract subjects  is  much  less  frequent  and  Montiano  has  improved  in 
facility  of  narration  and  conversation.    If  the  characters  show  about  as 


1"  Discurso  II.    Athaulfo,  pp.  120  S. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  81 

much  rigidity  as  in  "Virginia"  the  moral  purpose  of  the  play  is  not  thrust 
on  the  reader  with  so  much  crudeness.  In  other  words,  this  tragedy  is  no 
better  and  no  worse  than  many  of  the  second-rate  imitations  of  Corneille 
to  be  found  in  the  French  Hterature  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  for  it  scarcely  need  be  pointed  out  that  by  its  display  of  his- 
torical situations,  and  by  its  stoic  philosophy,  this  play,  as  was  the  "Vir- 
ginia," is  Cornelian  in  character. 

Montiano  Judged  at  Home  and  Abroad. — The  plays  of  Montiano,  in 
spite  of  their  lack  of  intrinsic  value,  awakened  a  fair  amount  of  interest 
in  and  out  of  Spain.  On  the  whole  they  were  taken  more  seriously  by 
foreigners  than  by  the  Spaniards  themselves.  Velazquez  in  his  treatise 
on  Castilian  poetry,  a  work  which  we  shall  take  up  a  little  later,  passes 
no  direct  criticism  on  Montiano's  production,  but  quotes,  among  other 
favorable  criticisms,  the  "Memoires  de  Trevoux"  for  December  1750 
vvhere  the  "Virginia"  is  praised  for  its  adherence  to  the  rules  and  de- 
scribed as  a  play  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  improve  either  in  its 
structure  or  in  its  composition. 

Hermilly  had  translated  not  only  the  "Virginia"  but  also  the  "Ath- 
aulfo"  and  the  two  discourses  on  the  Spanish  stage.  It  is  through  this 
little  two  volume  translation  that  the  work  of  Montiano  became  known 
to  the  great  German  critic  Lessing  who  enthusiastically  published  a  care- 
ful resume  of  the  "Virginia"  in  his  "Theatralische  Bibliothek." 

In  the  statements  serving  as  an  introduction  to  this  synopsis,  Lessing 
deplores  the  deep  ignorance  of  German  scholars  concerning  the  literature 
of  Spain  and  it  gives  him  great  pleasure  to  make  known  to  his  country- 
men the  life  and  works  of  the  greatest  tragic  poet  yet  produced  by  the 
Spanish  peninsula,  a  writer  whom  his  countrymen  need  not  fear  to  com- 
pare with  those  of  their  supposedly  superior  neighbors.* 

To  be  sure,  the  subsequent  studies  of  Lessing  on  the  works  of  Lope 
and  Calderon  caused  him  to  reverse  his  judgment.  In  the  "Hamburg 
Dramaturgy"  he  frankly  confesses  that  his  first  judgment  of  Montiano's 
play  was  erroneous  in  the  extreme  and  that  the  "Virginia"  must  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  nothing  but  a  Castilian  illustration  of  the  French  genre 
known  for  its  regularity  and  its  frigidity.* 

This  retraction  of  Lessing  occurred,  of  course,  a  good  many  years 
after  the  original  statement,  and  we  find  an  echoe  of  the  latter,  the  very 
year  of  its  publication,  in  the  edition  of  the  book  of  Velazquez  published 
in  German  and  with  a  great  abundance  of  notes  by  Dieze  of  Gottingen.* 

This  scholar  who,  like  Lessing,  had  but  recently  become  interested 
in  the  study  of  the  history  of  Spanish  literature  had  scented  from  afar 
the  real  ancestry  and  the  real  literary  affiliations  of  the  "Virginia."  He 
does  not  feel  that  this  play  compares  in  interest  with  those  Spanish  com- 


82  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

positions  which  are  not  written  according  to  the  rules,  but  he  remarks  on 
what  he  feels  is  the  excellence  of  Montiano's  versification,  and  proclaims 
him  an  artist,  great  not  only  in  the  drama,  but  also  in  other  poetical  fields. 

In  Spain,  as  in  foreign  countries,  the  plays  of  Montiano,  so  far  as 
they  aroused  any  interest,  did  so  only  among  the  cultured  classes. 

The  criticisms  passed  on  Montiano  by  his  companions  were,  as  might 
be  expected,  partly  favorable  and  partly  unfavorable.  Also,  as  is  usually 
the  case  in  the  Republic  of  Letters,  the  unfavorable  comments  proved 
to  be  the  more  elaborate  and  the  more  bulky.  Chief  among  these  is  a 
strange  pamphlet  by  one  who  hides  his  real  identity  under  the  pseudonym 
of  Jaime  Doms.* 

This  author,  in  what  purports  to  be  a  letter  to  Montiano,  states  that 
while  in  Paris  he  witnessed  the  intense  enthusiasm  which  the  reading  of 
the  Virginia  had  aroused  among  cultured  Frenchmen.  Wishing  to  thank 
the  great  Spanish  author  for  the  way  he  had  vindicated  his  country's 
literary  honor  and  made  it  to  shine  before  foreigners,  compelling  their 
admiration,  Jaime  Doms  had  set  himself  to  writing  a  letter  of  sincere 
praise  to  Montiano.  He  had  already  thanked  Montiano  for  his  treatment 
of  the  ignorant  author  of  the  "Theatre  Espagnol"  and  was  in  the  act  of 
penning  lines  in  which  he  called  him  the  father  and  protector  of  all 
Academies,  when  there  entered  into  the  room  two  friends  of  his. 

These  two  gentlemen  were  indiscreet  enough  to  glance  at  the  sheet 
of  paper  spread  before  Doms  and  catching  the  general  tenor  of  the  letter 
they  broke  forth  into  laughter.  The  host,  in  the  inocence  of  his  heart, 
thought  that  perchance  the  cause  of  their  glee  was  some  unusual  angle 
of  his  wig  or  some  unnoticed  disorder  in  his  garb,  but  the  two  visitors 
soon  opened  his  eyes  on  the  matter  and  assured  him  that  what  made  them 
laugh  was  the  tone  of  reverence  breathed  forth  by  the  letter  laid  before 
them. 

As  we  may  well  imagine  the  rest  of  the  pamphlet  is  made  up  of  a 
three  cornered  discussion  of  Montiano's  work,  the  two  visitors  attacking 
it  while  Doms  takes  on  himself  the  role  of  a  naive  and  shocked  defender. 

This  discussion  is  not  pleasant  reading.  It  is  a  despicable,  under- 
handed attack  in  which  all  kinds  of  disloyal  weapons  are  used.  The  two 
visitors  take  flings  at  Montiano's  personal  character  or  else  they  go  over 
the  pages  of  his  book,  carefully,  one  by  one,  looking  for  flaws  and  sneer- 
ing each  time  they  discover  one.  They  take  Montiano  to  task  for  writing 
his  plays  so  late  in  life,  and  then  they  blame  him  for  undertaking  a  piece 
of  work  which  in  the  last  analysis  is  not  worthy  of  a  true  man's  attention. 

At  each  new  attack,  Doms  whimpers  some  weak  defense,  which,  soon 
retracted  in  a  spirit  of  humility,  serves  only  to  re-enforce  the  argument  of 
the  hostile  critics. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  83 

Minute  picking  to  pieces  of  isolated  words  or  sentences,  quibbling 
over  insignificant  historical  points,  and  the  harping  on  the  theme  that 
Luzan  and  Montiano  are  really  trying  to  discredit  Spain  in  the  eyes  of 
foreigners,  form  the  bulk  of  this  unsavory  discussion.  The  speakers  are 
in  turn  treacherous,  brutal  and  coarse.* 

Only  the  bitterest  personal  jealousy  can  have  given  rise  to  this  libel. 
Under  the  guise  of  patriotic  indignation  the  writer  has  no  other  purpose 
but  to  cover  Montiano  with  slime. 

From  the  many  remarks  denoting  envy  of  Montiano's  official  affilia- 
tions with  a  number  of  learned  academies,  and  the  constant  hinting  that 
Montiano  is  an  ignoramus  in  the  field  of  paleography  and  history,  we 
may  fairly  safely  conclude  that  Doms  was  some  disappointed  rival  of 
Montiano,  possibly  an  unfortunate  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  Academy 
of  History  who  considered  this  pamphlet  a  creditable  way  of  relieving 
himself  of  his  bile. 

One  Guevara  (Montiano?)  answered  this  libel,  taking  one  by  one  the 
points  at  issue.  A  third  paper  appeared,  this  one  also  signed  with  an 
assumed  name  and  being  a  rejoinder  to  the  second.  Nothing  could  be 
gained  by  a  study  of  this  sorry  performance.  There  is  no  more  irritating 
reading  than  these  arguments  based  on  the  principle  of  the  endless  chain 
in  which  a  gentlemanly  pedant  tries  to  meet  the  treachery  of  a  cad.* 

The  articles  of  "L'Annee  Chretienne"  written  by  Father  Croisset 
which  Velazquez  quotes  as  fairly  indicative  of  the  attitude  of  foreigners 
towards  Montiano's  plays  may  possibly  have  been  a  much  needed  com- 
fort to  that  author  issuing  wearily  from  the  struggle  with  Jaime  Doms. 
In  it  Montiano  is  called  a  Spanish  Sophocles  who,  far  from  imitating 
Corneille  or  Racine,  avoided  the  errors  of  those  two  authors  and  proved 
himself  greater  than  either  in  his  own  dramatic  productions.  Nowhere 
is  he  guilty  of  such  an  error  as  that  committed  by  Corneille  in  his  in- 
sipid representation  of  the  love  of  Theseus  in  the  tragedy  of  Oedipus. 
Nowhere  does  he  sin  against  good  taste  as  does  Racine  when  he  shows 
to  his  public  a  raging  Phedra  and  tells  of  the  bloody  death  of  Hyppoli- 
tus.  In  his  style,  he  is  never  florid  like  Corneille  in  "Cinna"  nor  exagger- 
ated like  Racine  in  the  monologue  of  Theramene.  "En  una  palabra, 
ninguno  hasta  ahora  dio  reglas  mas  precisas,  mas  menudas,  mas  com- 
prehensivas,  mas  discretas,  mas  juiciosas,  mas  cabales,  para  la  perfeccion 
y  para  la  utilidad  de  la  tragedia  que  el  Sefior  Montiano,  y  ninguno  las 
practice  mejor."  ^^' 

This  is  all  very  flattering  to  Montiano,  and  if  the  good  man  was  in 
need  of  cheer,  we  hope  that  his  modesty  did  not  prevent  him  from  deriv- 


128  Velasquez.     Origenes  de  la  Foesia  Castellana,  p.  125. 


84  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

ing  some  degree  of  comfort  from  a  judgment  which  put  him  head  and 
shoulders  over  the  greatest  authors  in  all  French  literature. 

Just  one  detail  casts  a  shadow  over  all  this  and  makes  one  suspect 
that,  after  all,  it  might  have  been  unsafe  for  Montiano  to  bask  in  the 
sunshine  of  so  much  praise.  Velazquez  tells  us  that  the  article  was  trans- 
lated into  Spanish  by  that  notorious  practical  joker,  Father  Isla!  The 
record  for  literary  mischief-making  established  later  by  that  talented 
writer  through  his  "Diaz  Grandes  de  Navarra"  and  through  his  "Gil 
Bias,"  fills  our  minds  with  suspicion,  and  as  we  have  not  been  able  to 
compare  the  article  in  question  with  its  supposed  original,  we  feel  it  our 
duty  to  at  least  point  to  the  possibility  of  one  more  "gaminerie"  hidden 
by  the  witty  Spaniard  under  the  fulsome  praise  of  an  author,  whose  per- 
formance was  palpably  as  modest  as  his  own  character. 

Less  flattering  but  more  reassuring  in  tone  is  the  anonymous  dia- 
logue between  "Sabelli"  and  "Bartoli."  It  was  written  probably  shortly 
after  the  publication  of  the  plays  of  Montiano  but  it  was  not  printed 
until  the  days  of  the  "Semanario  Erudito,"  this  delay  being  due  to  cer- 
tain passages  of  the  dialogue  where  the  priesthood  was  spoken  of  in  a 
derogatory  manner. 

In  this  dialogue  the  two  interlocutors  discuss  whimsically  the  strange 
case  of  the  poet  who  managed  to  quell  the  fire  of  inspiration  until  past 
middle  life,  and,  on  one  of  them  asking  the  other  how  the  tragedies  had 
been  received  in  foreign  countries,  we  get  this  answer  which  proves  to 
be  the  sanest  and  most  kindly  judgment  passed  on  Montiano  even  though 
there  is  not  lacking  in  it  a  little  dash  of  irony.  "Los  Franceses  las  han 
alabado  y  traducido,  y  los  Espafioles  no  han  hecho  mucho  caso  de  ellas ; 
pero  el  autor  se  tiene  por  otro  Eschilo  y  juzga  que  si  se  representaran,  las 
mujeres  prenadas  malparirian  de  susto  y  los  muchachos  moririan  de 
espanto  al  ver  executar  los  lances  tragicos  que  en  ellos  pinta."  On  the 
listener's  exclaiming  that  these  tragedies  must  be  written  with  incom- 
parable spirit  the  speaker  replies  "Lo  que  te  puedo  decir  es  que  si,  con- 
forme  a  las  reglas  que  dio  en  su  primer  discurso,  hubiese  ajus- 
to  sus  tragedias,  serian  mejores  que  las  famosas  Eumenides  de 
Eschilo,  pero  yo  he  conocido  y  conozco  muchos  Poetas  y  Pintores  que 
saben  todos  los  preceptos  de  la  Theorica  y  en  la  accion  son  desgraciados. 
Esto  mismo  le  ha  sucedido  a  este  autor  en  sus  tragedias ;  pero  su  bondad 
merece  que  se  le  disimule  qualquier  defecto  porque  es  un  caballero  ama- 
bilisimo  asi  por  sus  prendas  como  por  el  amor  que  tiene  a  las  letras  y 
por  la  propension  que  tiene  de  hacer  bien  a  todo  el  mundo.  Es  el  padre 
protector  de  todos  los  literatos."^^^ 

This  long  quotation  is  probably  typical  of  the  average  judgment 

^2«  Semanario  Erudito,  v.  V,  p.  148. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  85 

passed  by  intelligent  and  educated  Spaniards  on  the  dramatic  efforts  of 
Montiano.  It  represents  the  attitude  of  the  average  reader  who  had  no 
very  good  reasons  either  for  hating  or  for  greatly  admiring  the  neo- 
classic  movement  and  its  first  productions.  Such  men  would,  to  be  sure, 
feel  inclined  to  poke  gentle  fun  at  the  prosy  old  gentleman  who  in  his 
later  years  took  it  into  his  head  to  become  a  dramatic  poet,  but  they  would 
also  recognize  that  the  motives  back  of  his  slightly  ridiculous  attempt  were 
distinctly  respectable,  since  they  arose  from  a  desire  to  vindicate  the 
nation's  reputation  in  the  eyes  of  foreigners.  Good-natured  humor,  tem- 
pered by  the  knowledge  of  the  writer's  sterling  qualities  as  a  man,  forms 
the  basis  of  the  above  quotation,  which  we  may  take  as  the  expression 
of  the  fairest  judgment  pronounced  on  Montiano  by  his  contemporaries. 

As  we  have  already  stated,  the  other  two  members  of  the  Academy 
of  Good  Taste  who  shared  with  Montiano  his  absolute  acceptance  of  the 
spirit  of  neo-classicism  were  Velazquez  and  Nasarre. 

Velasquez. — The  former  is  known  chiefly  by  his  sketch  on  the  Ori- 
gins of  Castilian  Poetry,  a  little  treatise  of  some  two  hundred  pages  which 
is  more  an  enumeration  of  names  and  dates  than  a  history  of  literature  in 
the  broad  sense  of  the  word.*  The  rather  meagre  critical  material  which 
does  break  from  time  to  time  the  monotony  of  these  bare  enumerations 
tends  quite  consistently  to  define  and  to  discredit  those  traits  of  Spanish 
literature  which  we  associate  with  concepticism  and  cultism.  Quite  con- 
sistently also  these  remarks  tend  to  place  the  responsibility  for  the  devel- 
opment of  these  literary  errors  on  authors  not  of  Spanish  birth.  Arab 
authors  were  the  first  ones  to  bring  into  Spain  tendencies  to  literary  ex- 
travagance. They  loved  puns,  quibbles,  allusions  "llevadas  a  larga  dis- 
tancia"  and  disproportionate  metaphors.  Spanish  literature  suffered 
somewhat  by  contact  with  such  imaginative  neighbors.*  The  real  con- 
tamination which  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  turned 
Spanish  poetry  from  the  natural  channels  along  which  it  had  made  such 
excellent  progress,  came  from  Italy.  Bad  taste  entered  into  Spain 
through  the  return  home  of  those  Spanish  gentlemen  who  had  fought 
in  the  Italian  wars  or  who  had  merely  traveled  in  the  peninsula  for 
pleasure.  These  evil  germs  gave  rise  to  literature  where  bad  taste  in 
all  its  forms  flourished  marvelously.  Some  authors  ruined  the  stage  by 
its  means  while  others  brought  about  the  undoing  of  lyric  poetry.  Ignor- 
ance, leading  heated  imaginations,  took  possession  of  all  the  literary 
genres  and  the  result  was  fatal  to  Spanish  literature. 

Velazquez  is  quite  aware  of  the  fact  that  there  is  nothing  new  in  his 
assertions.  He  even  feels  that  to  speak  of  these  matters  more  in  detail 
would  be  futile,  for,  thanks  to  the  efforts  of  the  scholars  and  men  of 
taste  who  have  studied  the  subject,  there  is  no  one  in  these  enlightened 


86  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

days  who  does  not  see  the  folly  of  the  literary  ideals  of  the  seventeenth 
century :  "Seria  ofender  en  cierto  modo  a  un  siglo  tan  instruido  como  el 
en  que  vivimos  sospechar  que  aun  oy  era  necessario  este  desengaiio."  ^'° 

Surely  this  work  of  Velazquez  does  not  recommend  itself  by  its 
originality.  Its  author  attempted  for  poetry  what  Montaigne  had 
attempted  for  the  stage  and  he  did  not  succeed  much  better.  He  under- 
took to  make  a  literary  judgment  here  and  there  by  applying  the  theo- 
retical principles  of  Luzan  and  in  this  he  succeeded  but  too  well.  It  is 
literally  true  with  him  that  Spanish  literature  is  just  beginning  to  regain 
some  luster  after  a  hundred  years  of  worthless  productions. 

Velazquez  is  responsible  for  one  of  the  very  few  direct  tributes  to 
the  superiority  of  a  French  author  that  can  be  recalled  in  a  movement 
where,  pretty  generally,  admiration  for  foreign  works  was  tempered  by 
the  fear  of  appearing  or  of  actually  being  unpatriotic.  After  praising 
Luzan  for  the  great  services  rendered  by  the  'Toetica,"  Velazquez  ex- 
claims that  the  Comedia  will  be  truly  great  only  if  a  man  like  Moliere 
appears  on  the  scene :  "Quando  la  nacion  logre  un  genio  tan  superior 
como  el  de  este  gran  Comico,  podra  esperar  que  se  restablezca  la  comedia 
Espanola."  "^ 

Nasarre. — Nassarre  represents  a  form  of  neo-classicism  not  quite  as 
narrow  as  that  of  Montiano  or  Velazquez  and  he  gives  proof  of  more 
originality  than  either  in  the  expression  of  his  narrowness. 

Desirous  to  fight  for  the  good  cause  of  regularity  and  common 
sense  in  as  efficacious  a  way  as  his  two  colleagues  had  done,  he  turned  his 
attention  more  particularly  to  the  study  of  the  Comedia.  His  reading  of 
the  plays  of  Cervantes  made  him  wonder  at  the  lack  of  consistency  exist- 
ing between  the  principles  of  criticism  which  the  great  Spanish  writer 
expressed  in  the  famous  forty-eighth  chapter  of  the  Quijote  and  those 
which  ruled  that  author's  dramatical  composition.  So  far  as  the  ideas 
expressed  were  concerned,  that  forty-eighth  chapter  might  have  been 
written  by  Luzan  himself  or  by  any  member  of  the  Buen  Gusto  group, 
yet  the  comedies  of  Cervantes  are  as  irregular  as  those  of  any  other 
playwright  of  the  times. 

Nasarre,  struck  by  this  lack  of  conformity  between  theory  and  prac- 
tice, seized  upon  the  happy  idea  of  considering  the  plays  of  Cervantes 
as  so  many  minor  Don  Quijotes  written  to  ridicule  the  extravagances  of 
the  Comedia.  Thus  the  theory  of  Cervantes  expounded  the  principles  of 
neo-classic  good  sense  and  his  plays  were  parodies  meant  to  ridicule  the 
dramatic  productions  of  those  who  wrote  without  the  guidance  of  the 
rules.    Cervantes  was  thus  proved  to  be  perfectly  consistent  with  himself. 

180  Origenes,  p.  70. 
^'^  Origenes. 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  87 

With  a  view  to  illustrating  his  theses  in  full,  Nasarre  published,  in 
two  volumes,  sixteen  of  the  comedies  and  "entremeses"  of  Cervantes.* 
He  naturally  picked  out  those  which  showed  irregularities  such  as  could 
be  explained  only  by  the  theory  that  they  were  meant  to  ridicule  their 
own  genre.  To  this  selection  of  plays  Nasarre  prefixed  an  introduction 
where  he  explained  his  purpose  and  then  of  course  proceeded  to  heap 
upon  the  Comedia  the  usual  abuse.  Lope  is  called  without  more  ado 
the  corruptor  of  the  Spanish  stage,  Calderon  is  accused  of  immorality 
and  of  lack  of  imagination.  A  playwright  who  must  depend  on  com- 
plexity of  plot  to  keep  his  public  amused  shows  a  real  lack  of  imagination. 

This  apparent  lack  of  regular  plays  does  not  discourage  Nasarre  to 
the  extent  of  making  him  pass  condemnation  on  the  whole  of  Spanish 
literature.  He  still  has  enough  faith  in  his  race  to  believe  that  soon 
a  number  of  regular  or  semi-regular  plays  will  be  unearthed  and  given 
to  the  public.  Then  Lope  and  Calderon  will  appear  in  their  real  relations 
to  the  truly  great  Spanish  writers,  and  their  extravagant  compositions 
will  sink  into  insignificance  beside  the  wealth  of  first  class  literature 
which  for  the  first  time  will  be  presented  to  the  public. 

Who  were  those  authors  so  superior  to  Lope  and  Calderon?  In 
what  secret  nooks  had  their  masterpieces  been  kept  for  over  a  hundred 
years  awaiting  the  diligent  search  of  eighteenth  century  scholars? 
Nasarre  does  not  even  make  a  pretense  at  enlightening  us ;  he  is  guided 
by  faith  alone. 

This  hope  of  Nasarre  represents  the  state  of  mind  in  which  the 
neo-classicists  of  Spain  often  found  themselves  during  the  first  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  Having  adopted  the  rules,  they  felt  that  Spain 
was  disgraced  in  her  literature,  yet,  being  patriotic  Spaniards,  they 
really  could  not  believe  in  such  a  disgrace  and  felt  that  out  of  the  mass 
of  seventeenth  century  writings  some  day,  somehow,  the  works  which 
the  literary  honor  of  the  country  needed  so  much  would  be  brought 
to  light. 

Patriotism  and,  to  be  perfectly  candid,  ignorance,  fostered  this  ret- 
rospective hope  of  a  past  glorious  in  a  neo-classic  sense. 

This  desire  to  find  respectable  plays  in  what  he  felt  was  a  disrep- 
utable past  is  so  strong  in  Nasarre  that  he  is  almost  on  the  verge  of 
inventing  a  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  the  writers  of  irregular  "comedias" 
to  keep  down  authors  possessed  of  the  proper  literary  principles.  Cer- 
vantes wrote  his  parodies  on  "comedias"  because  he  did  not  dare  speak.  It 
was  too  dangerous:  "No  pudo  explicarse  Cervantes  con  la  claridad  que 
le  era  tan  natural,  por  que  se  lo  impedian  la  tyrania  que  se  habia  apode- 
rado  del  Theatro  y  los  Autores  afamadissimos  que  le  fomentaban."  "» 


182  Prologo  to  Cervantes'  comedies,  p.  2. 


88  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

The  illustrations  brought  out  by  Nassarre  to  prove  his  theory  of  the 
real  character  of  Cervantes'  comedies  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make 
that  idea  quite  defensible.  On  first  reading  of  it,  the  theory  seems  ab- 
surd, but  a  little  study  into  the  matter  leads  one  to  a  less  absolute  judg- 
ment. If  it  is  indeed  absurd  to  suppose  that  all  the  plays  of  Cervantes 
should  be  disguised  literary  critiques,  it  would  be  unfair  to  deny  that 
one  perchance,  "El  Rufian  Dichoso,"  may  have  been  composed  at  least  in 
part  as  a  satire  against  the  literary  genre  which  Cervantes  attacked  in 
the  forty-eighth  chapter  of  the  Quijote.  Let  us  reproduce  here  the  quo- 
tation from  the  play  just  mentioned  on  which  Nasarre  based  his  opinion 
with  apparently  a  good  deal  of  reason. 

The  illustration  brought  by  Nasarre  to  prove  his  theory  as  to  the 
real  character  of  the  comedies  of  Cervantes  is  very  startling  and  almost 
convincing  when  taken  without  reference  to  what  precedes  and  what 
follows  it  in  the  play  of  which  it  is  a  part.  What  does  arouse  the  reader's 
suspicions  is  the  fact  that  Nasarre  has  after  all  but  one  convincing  illus- 
tration, and  a  very  brief  study  of  that  convinces  one  that,  in  spite  of  its 
attractive  appearance,  it  is  quite  insufficient  to  prove  the  author's  sweep- 
ing generalization. 

The  illustration  is  taken  from  the  second  act  of  the  "Rufian 
Dichoso."  The  first  act  has  given  us  the  picture  of  the  wild  life  of  a 
young  student  named  Lugo  who  with  his  mad  revelries  has  filled  the  in- 
habitants of  Seville  with  scandalized  admiration  and  the  legal  authorities 
with  impotent  anger.  This  young  scapegrace,  who  has  repeatedly  lost  at 
cards,  when  playing  with  a  certain  boon  companion  of  his,  takes  an  oath 
that  if  he  loses  again  he  will  break  with  society  and  become  a  highway- 
man. As  a  matter  of  fact,  his  luck  turns  and  he  makes  a  clean  sweep  of 
the  stakes.  This  change  in  his  bad  luck  which  was  fast  becoming  chronic 
brings  about  another  change  of  greater  importance,  for  as  he  has  promised 
to  himself  to  become  a  highway  robber,  now  he  decides  to  give  up  his 
wild  life  and  to  become  a  saint.  The  stage  directions  at  that  point  call 
for  a  display  of  heavenly  spirits,  or  at  least  one  angel,  and  the  act  ends 
with  these  lines : 

Cuando  un  pecador  se  vuelve 

A  Dios  con  humilde  celo 

Se  hacen  fiestas  en  el  Cielo. 

So  far  there  is  nothing  to  differentiate  this  play  from  any  other  of 
the  many  comedies  hinging  on  repentance  and  holy  life  following  hard 
upon  a  youth  spent  in  wild  debauch. 

It  is  at  the  outset  of  the  second  act  that  the  surprise  awaits  us.  The 
scene  is  to  be  shifted  from  Seville  to  Mexico  and,  probably  with  a  view 
to  helping  us  in  the  swift  journey  thus  made  necessary,  the  second  act 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  89 

begins  with  a  dialogue  between  two  unexpected  characters,  Curiosity  and 
Comedy.  The  conversation  of  these  two  allegorical  characters  bears  as 
little  relation  to  the  rest  of  the  play  as  do  the  characters  themselves,  for 
it  consists  of  the  reproaches  directed  by  Curiosity  to  Comedy  for  having 
abandoned  the  rules  of  composition  recommended  by  the  ancients :  What 
made  you  give  up  the  cothurn,  why  did  you  reduce  your  acts  from  five 
to  three,  and  why  do  you  represent  actions  taking  one  instantly  from  here 
to  Flanders?  I  can  scarcely  recognize  you,  tell  me  the  reasons  for  such 
profound  ghange  in  your  makeup.  Comedy  thus  challenged  to  give  an 
account  of  itself  starts  on  an  eighty-four  line  speech  apologizing  for  its 
present  state,  and  laying  the  blame  of  it  all  on  the  real  differences  which 
separate  the  literary  taste  of  the  day  from  that  of  Antiquity.  Times  have 
changed  and  if  you  consider  our  epoch : 

No  soy  mala,  aunque  desdigo 
De  aquellos  preceptos  graves 
Que  me  dieron  y  dejaron 
En  sus  obras  admirables 
Seneca,  Terencio  y  Plauto 

Y  otros  griegos  que  tu  sabes. 

He  dejado  parte  dellos,  ' 

Y  he  tambien  guardado  parte 
Porque  lo  quiere  asi  el  uso 
Que  no  se  sujeta  al  arte. 

As  I  am  expected  to  actually  represent  events  to  the  public  instead  of 
telling  about  them  as  formerly,  perforce  I  must  go  where  the  events  take 
place 

Voy  alii  donde  acontecen  : 

Disculpa  del  disparate, 

Y  la  comedia  es  un  mapa 
Donde  no  un  dedo  distante 
Veras  a  Londres  y  a  Roma 
A  Valladolid  y  a  Gante. 
Muy  poco  importa  al  oyente 
Que  yo  en  un  punto  me  pase 
Desde  Alemania  a  Guinea, 
Sin  del  teatro  mudarme. 

El  pensamiento  es  ligero ; 
Bien  pueden  acompaharme 
Con  el,  do  quiera  que  fuere, 
Sin  perderme  ni  cansarnie. 

Then  Comedy  shows  how  this  very  play  "El  Rufian  Dichoso"  is  con- 
structed on  just  such  lines.  Three  places  are  visited,  Sevilla,  Toledo  and 
Mexico,  and  the  three  acts  correspond  to  the  three  stages  in  the  hero's 
life ;   the  days  of  his  profligacy,  those  of  his  holy  life,  and  then  his  death 


90  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

followed  by  the  working  of  miracles  through  the  agency  of  the  relics  he 
left  behind  him. 

Mai  pudiera  yo  traer 

A  estar  atenida  al  arte 

Tanto  oyente  por  las  ventas 

Y  por  tanto  mar,  sin  naves. 

Curiosity  is  only  moderately  satisfied  with  these  explanations  and 
closes  the  scene  with  these  words : 

Aunque  no  lo  quedo  en  todo 
Quedo  satisfecha  en  parte, 
Amiga;   por  esto  quiero 
Sin  replicarte,  escucharte. 

This  dialogue  Nasarre  took  as  proof  of  a  consistently  ironical  atti- 
tude on  the  part  of  Cervantes  towards  the  Comedia.  He  knew  the  rules, 
he  knew  the  absurdities  which  followed  necessarily  on  the  breaking  of 
the  same.  His  play  was  intended  to  illustrate  the  futility  of  compositions 
meant  to  suit  the  popular  taste. 

Unfortunately  there  is  absolutely  nothing  in  the  play  itself  indicative 
of  a  satirical  attitude  on  the  part  of  Cervantes.  The  first  act  which  we 
have  discussed  is  a  fairly  brilliant  sketch  of  Bohemian  life  in  Spain.  It 
does  not  contain  a  line  or  a  word  tending  to  show  on  the  author's  part 
any  desire  to  express  ideas  on  literary  criticism.  As  for  the  second  and 
the  third  acts,  they  are  distinctly  religious  in  character.  To  be  sure, 
Lucifer,  dressed  according  to  the  latest  fashion,  has  a  considerable  part  in 
the  action  together  with  a  pair  of  grotesque  demons,  but  these  characters 
in  no  way  interfere  with  the  mystic  atmosphere  created  by  the  two  acts. 
At  no  time  do  these  strange  characters  give  to  the  reader  the  impression 
that  the  author  entertained  any  ironical  purpose  in  introducing  them, 

On  reading  the  play  there  is  quite  enough  to  persuade  us  that  we 
are  dealing  with  no  unusual  form  of  the  Spanish  Comedia  and  least  of  all 
with  a  parody  on  the  same.  The  "Rufian  Dichoso"  was  written  first  to 
delight,  then  to  edify  an  average  Spanish  audience  of  the  day.  Its  author 
had  no  motives  beyond  these  two.  It  is  even  doubtful  whether  the  dia- 
logue between  "Comedia"  and  "Curiosidad"  is  intended  to  censure  the 
Comedia.  It  would  seem  more  reasonable  to  consider  it  simply  as  a  way 
on  the  part  of  the  author  to  recognize  a  condition  without  attempting  to 
pass  judgment  on  the  matter. 

Why  such  a  discussion  should  break  in  between  two  acts  of  a  comedy 
is  not  easily  explained,  but  its  presence  unsustained  by  further  evidence 
in  the  rest  of  the  comedy  is  not  sufficient  to  make  it  a  parody  on  the  most 
popular  of  Spain's  literary  genres.*    Indeed  few  are  the  "comedias"  not 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  91 

containing  passages  or  episodes  hard  to  reconcile  or  even  to  fit  in  readily 
with  the  general  plot.  Cervantes  knew  the  rules ;  they  presented  a  prob- 
lem of  great  interest  to  him.  In  the  course  of  his  fanciful  play  it  occurred 
to  him  to  touch  a  little  on  them.  It  may  be  that  his  hero's  unexpected  trip 
to  Alexico  brought,  by  contrast,  such  matters  to  his  mind  and  he  merrily 
introduced  the  dialogues  in  question,  thus  proving  his  inalienable  right  as 
a  Spanish  writer  to  be  whimsical  at  all  times  and  learned  at  the  illogical 
moment.  He  knew  doubtless  that  such  apparently  erratic  processes  are 
also  artistic  devices  of  no  small  value. 

Nasarre,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  believed  firmly  that  there  had 
existed  an  age  when  neo-classicism  was  in  favor  in  Spanish  letters  and 
this  preconceived  idea  warped  his  judgment  in  this  matter.  "Curo  Cer- 
vantes a  los  enfermos  de  Caballeria;  quiso  curar  a  los  males  Comicos 
representando  y  remedando  ;  sobre  estas  ocho  comedias  que  se  reimprimen, 
se  podrian  hacer  muchas  observaciones  que  sera  razon  dej  arias  a  los  que 
las  leyeren."  ^'' 

No  reader  has  yet  come  forward  with  the  observations  said  to  be 
possible  and  Nasarre  seems  to  stand  convicted  of  having  based  an  enor- 
mous generalization  on  most  inadequate  foundations. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  IV. 

p.  62.  Porcel  in  his  "Ju'cio  Lunatico"  quoted  by  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  p.  xci, 
describes  this  Spanish  "Chambre  Bleue"  while  describing  an  imaginary  Academy. 
"Quede  absorto  al  ver  lo  regio  y  espacioso  de  la  magnifica  galeria,  cuyas  doradas 
rejas  daban  vista  a  los  jardines.  Sus  grandes  paredes  vestian  primorosas  pinturas, 
Unas  mitologicas  y  otras  simbolicas  que  explicaban  todos  los  generos  de  la  poetica. 
A  trechos  las  estatuas  de  las  Musas  con  sus  respectivas  insignias  y  en  el  testero 
Apolo  coronado  de  rayos  y  pulsando  la  dorada  lira.  Desde  esta  pieza  se  dejaba 
registrar  en  parte  otra,  no  menos  regia  que  servia  de  biblioteca,  la  cual  constaba  de 
todas  las  obras  poeticas  de  los  espanoles ;  siendo  mas  y  mejor  lo  manuscrita  6 
inedito  que  lo  que  habia  fatigado  las  prensas." 

P.  63.  Cueto,  B.  A.  E.,  .v.  LXI,  p.  138.  "Juicio  Satirico  que  lego  Don  Jose 
Antonio  Porcel  de  su  propia  obra.     El  Adonis  en  la  Academia  del  Buen  Gusto." 

P.  66.  In  his  "Origenes  de  la  Poesia  Castellana"  Velazquez  makes  the  fol- 
lowing statement:  "Tambien  merece  una  particular  estimacion  el  ingenio  del 
Conde  de  Torrepalma  bien  desempenado  en  el  discurso  sobre  la  Comedia  Espanola 
que  aun  no  ha  dado  a  la  luz"  (between  pages  76  and  107). 

P.  67.  Discurso  sobre  las  Tragedias  Espanolas.  De  Don  .\gustin  de  Monti- 
ano  y  Luyando.    II  ed.    Madrid,  1750.    "Censura,"  by  Father  Juan  de  Aravoca. 

P.  67.  Nasarre  refers  to  that  author  without  naming  him.  "Debieron  antes 
de  erigirse  en  juicios  de  nuestro  teatro  y  antes  de  imputarle  monstruosidades  y  de 


133  Prolog©  to  plays  of  Cervantes,  last  page. 


92  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

atribuir  al  suyo  todos  los  primores,  debieron  instruirse  de  la  que  ciertamente  no 
supieron  y  les  era  necessario  para  no  precipitar  y  torcer  el  juicio."  Speaking  of 
foreign  authors,  Vicente  Garcia  de  la  Huerta  in  the  prologue  to  his  "Theatro 
Hcspanol,"  page  160,  tells  us  that  the  work  criticized  by  Montiano  was  written  by 
Du  Perron.  "No  obstante  la  general  ignorancia  que  como  se  ha  visto,  reyna  entre 
los  Franceses  de  las  cosas  relativas  a  nuestro  Theatro,  como  el  caracter  de 
muchos  de  sus  ingenios  es  el  atreverse  a  todo,  se  arrojo  en  el  ano  1738  M.  Du 
Perron  a  dar  por  extractos  algunas  comedias  Hespaiiolas  con  el  titulo  de  'Theatro 
Hespanol'  sacando,  al  parecer,  las  peores  de  ellas,  6  acaso  no  sabiendo  distinguirlas." 

P.  68.  Ticknor,  v.  I,  ch.  xiii,  p.  241.  Among  imitations  of  the  Celestina. 
1547. 

P.  70.  Discurso,  64.  He  will  not  make  use  of  them  in  this  discourse  "pero  si 
afirmare  que  por  mayor  son  obras  no  desnudas  de  merito  y  que  las  mas  podrian 
aspirar  a  distinguirse  entre  las  mejores."  It  may  be  that  he  had  in  mind  the  many 
manuscripts  referred  to  by  Porcel  in  the  description  of  a  drawing  room  supposed 
by  Cueto  to  be  that  of  the  Duchess  of  Lemos.      (See  note  above,  p.  79.) 

P.  72.  Pinciano.  Spanish  philologian,  born  at  Valladolid  about  1473,  died  at 
Salamanca  1553.     Professor  of  Greek  at  Alcala  and  later  at  Salamanca. 

P.  72.  Bourgoing  in  his  "Nouveau  voyage  en  Espagne,"  v.  I,  p.  360,  gives 
an  interesting  description  of  the  conditions  which  Montiano  was  trying  to  reform. 
"Deux  toiles  paralleles  faisant  face  aux  spectateurs,  composaient  toute  le  mecanisme 
de  leur  theatre :  j'en  ai  encore  vu  de  cette  espece.  Le  souffleur  au  defaut  d'une 
niche  particuliere  et  ne  pouvant  trouver  place  dans  les  coulisses,  se  tient  derriere  la 
seconde  toile,  sa  lumiere  d'une  main  et  la  piece  de  I'autre  et  saute  rapidement  d'un 
cote  du  theatre  a  I'autre  pour  soufifler  I'acteur  qui  a  besoin  de  son  discours :  ce 
qui  a  la  faveur  de  la  transparence  de  la  toile  est  sensible  a  tout  I'auditoire,  et  ne 
peut  qu'ajouter  a  son  divertissement.  Mais  il  n'en  est  plus  ainsi  dans  les  grandes 
villes.  .  .  .  On  est,  seulement  d'abord  fort  etonne  d'entendre  le  soufifleur  reciter 
tons  les  roles  presqu'aussi  haut  que  les  acteurs  et  on  est  tente  de  prier  ceux-ci  de 
se  taire,  pour  laisser  parler  seul  celui  qui  les  supplee  si  bien  tous." 

P.  72.  Discurso  II,  pp.  70-112.  Bourgoing.  in  the  travels  mentioned  already, 
says  of  the  acting  on  the  Spanish  stage:  "Sur  I'art  de  jouer  la  comedie — Les 
gestes  repondent  aux  autres  parties  de  la  declamation.  Presque  toujours  forces 
et  faux,  ils  se  renferment  dans  un  cercle  etroit.  Inventes  par  I'ineptie,  ils  sont 
consacres  par  une  routine,  dont  aucun  acteur  n'oserait  s'ecarter,"  v.  I,  p.  366. 
Signorelli,  v.  IV,  p.  205,  goes  into  greater  detail — "I'attore  seguendo  i  delirij  della 
poesia  con  gesti  di  scimmie  delle  mani,  de'  piedi,  degli  occhi,  del  corpo  tutto  radi 
pingendo,  non  gia  lo  spiritu  del  sentimento  e  della  passione  ma  le  parole  delle 
metafore  insolent!  accompagnandone  ciascuna  con  gesto  che  le  indichi.  Di  maniera 
che  ho  veduto  io  stesso  I'attore  tutto  grondante  di  sudore  per  lo  studio  che  pone 
ad  imitare  i  movimenti  del  becco,  delle  ali,  degli  artigli  di  un  uncello  di  rapina,  il 
serpeggiar  di  un  ruscello,  lo  strisciar  della  serpe,  il  corvettar  del  cavallo  ed  il 
guizzar  del  pesce." 

P.  79.  Illustrations  of  this  may  be  found  anywhere  in  the  play.  From  act 
I,  sc.  1  and  2 :  "dara  la  novedad  a  la  sospechosa  motivo — las  repulsas — el  amor — 
la  torpeza — enganosos  alhagos — astuto  conato — que  se  obstine  la  importuna  ce- 
guedad  con  que  el  me  molesta — arrojo  genio  me  lo  persuaden" — all  from  page  127. 
"Tu  voluntad  no  quiere  .  .  .  tu  juicio  .  .  .  tu  honestitad  .  .  .  tu  discrecion  ...  el 
pavor  ...  el  lustre  .  .  .  su  inclinacion  ...  el  animo  zozobre  .  .  .  cuidado  y  zelo 


AN  ORGANIZED  GROUP  OF  NEO-CLASSICISTS  93 

habian  trahido  al  Foro" — all  to  be  found  with  many  others  within  the  next  two  or 
three  pages. 

P.  81.  Lessing.  Samtliche  Schriften,  by  Karl  Lackmann.  1890.  V.  VI,  p. 
70.  Auzzug  aus  dem  Trauerspiele  Virginia  des  Don  Augustino  de  Montiano  y 
Luyando.  "Ich  schmeichle  mir,  dass  schon  die  gegenwartige  Nachricht  ihn  urn 
ein  grosses  erhohen  wird,  und  dass  meine  Leser  erfreut  sein  werden,  den  grossten 
tragischen  Dicther  kennen  zu  lernen,  den  jezt  Spanien  aufweisen  und  ihn  seinen 
Nachbarn  entgegen  stellen  kann." 

P.  81.  Same,  v.  X,  p.  75.  "Die  Virginia  des  Augustino  de  Montiano  y 
Luyando  est  swar  spanisch  geschrieben ;  aber  kein  spanisches  Stiick:  ein  blasser 
Versuch  in  der  correcten  manier  der  Franzosen,  regelmiissig  aber  frostig.  Ich 
bekenne  sehr  gem,  dass  ich  bey  weiten  so  vorteilhaft  nicht  mehr  davon  denke. 
als  ich  wohl  ehedem  muss  gedacht  haben. 

"Wenn  das  zweite  Stiick  des  nehmlichen  Verfassers  nicht  besser  gerathen  ist ; 
wenn  die  neueren  Dichter  der  Nation,  welche  eben  diesen  Weg  betreten  wollen, 
ihn  nicht  gliicklicher  betreten  haben;  so  mogen  sie  mir  es  nicht  iibel  nehmen,  wenn 
ich  noch  immer  lieber  nach  ihrem  alten  Lope  und  Calderon  greife,  als  nach  ihnen." 

P.  81.  Dietze,  p.  Z7Z,  note  to  that  page.  "Aber  weder  die  genaue  Bcobach- 
tung  der  Regeln  .  .  .  noch  die  sehr  schone  Versification,  haben  diese  Stiicke  so 
intercessant  machen  konnen,  als  viele  sind,  in  denen  die  Regeln  nicht  so  iingstlich 
beobactet  worden."  Also  praise  as  poet,  p.  265.  J.  A.  Dietze  was  a  professor  at 
Gottingen  and  died  in  1785.  His  notes  to  the  translation  of  the  work  of  Velazquez 
doubled  the  size  and  the  worth  of  the  original. 

P.  82.  Carta  escrita  por  Don  Jayme  Doms  Contra  el  Discurso  sobre  las 
Tragedias  Espaiiolas  y  la  Virginia  de  el  Seiior  Don  Agustino  de  Montiano  y 
Luyando. 

P.  83.  Carta,  etc.,  by  Doms,  p.  21.  "El  fin  del  Senor  D.  Agustin  no  es  ni 
ha  side  el  de  vindicar  la  nacion  sino  el  de  dar  dos  Tarascadas  a  Lope  de  Vega — 
como  se  ve  al  aire  conque  insulta  a  quantos  habian  bien  de  el."  Accusing  Montiano 
of  giving  Luzan  too  much  glory.  "Todo  cabe  que  estos  sefiores  ban  repartido  entre 
tres,  a  lo  que  oigo,  toda  la  gloria  de  la  Poesia  Espafiola."  Typical  of  word  criti- 
cism, Montiano  had  written  "imiten  este  rumbo  y  lo  mejoren" — Doms  remarks — 
"los  rumbos  se  siguen."  Gloats  over  fact  that  Montiano  did  not  know  that  twelve 
"millas  de  Italia  son  tres  y  no  tres  y  media" — of  modern  leagues.  Triumphantly 
quotes  from  Pinciano,  Cascales,  Gonzales  de  Salas  to  prove  that  Montiano  did  not 
invent  the  fourth  unity.  Accusing  him  of  ignorance — "yo  aseguro  a  Vd.  que  nadie 
reprehenda  al  Sefior  D.  Agustino  por  averle  hallado  con  instrumento  de  letra 
Gotica  en  las  manos,  desojandose  por  leer  alguna  diccion  de  que  solo  quedaron  en 
el  pergamino  algunas  casi  imperceptibles  seiiales  de  sus  lineamentos ;  porque  como 
de  muchacho  no  tuvo  aficion  a  esta  casta  de  trabajos,  no  es  mucho  que  no  se  apa- 
sione  de  ellos  en  edad  que  necesita  anteojos,"  p.  9. 

P.  83.  Examen  de  la  Carta  que  supone  impresa  en  Barcelona  y  escrita  por 
Don  Jaime  Doms  etc.  le  ofrece  al  juicio  de  los  Inteligentes  y  desapasionados  D. 
Domingo  Luis  de  Guevara,  Abogado  de  los  Reales  Consejos.  Madrid.  The 
third  pamphlet  was  entitled  "Crisis  de  un  Folleto  cuyo  Titulo  es :  Examen  de  le 
Carta,  etc.,"  its  author  D.  Faustino  De  Quevedo,  Salamanca,  1754.  This  man  is 
undoubtedly  the  same  who  masqueraded  under  the  pseudonym  of  Doms.  As  for 
the  identity  of  Luis  de  Guevara  it  is  not  so  easy  to  say.  The  concluding  lines  of 
the  pamphlet  are  certainly  not  in  Montiano's  style.     In  them  Jaime  Doms  is  made 


94  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT   IN   SPAIN 

to  pass  an  examination.  "Pues  venga  aca; — porque  se  embarco  en  esta  critica?" 
He  admits  that  "tenia  gran  gana  de  decir  que  D.  A.  de  M.  merecia  estar  recogido 
por  haber  compuesto  una  tragedia  .  .  de  llamarle  cien  veces  Director  perpetuo  de 
la  Historia  .  .  .  que  los  padres  de  Trevoux  con  manifiesto  error  malicioso  6 
grossera  ignorancia  alaban  a  D.  I.  de  Luzan  y  que  esta  gloria  es  falsa  y  no  mere- 
cida,  etc.  Confiesso  mi  pecado.  Y  ique  pena  le  impondria  el  Juez?  No  lo  sabemos. 
Pues  vamos  comiendo,"  p.  65.  A  note  in  Ticknor's  handwriting  on  one  of  the 
Ticknor  Collection  copies  states  that  Guevara  is  certainly  a  pseudonym,  but  that 
nothing  proves  that  it  hides  Montiano's  identity. 

P.  85.  Origenes  de  la  Poesia  Castellana  por  Don  Luis  Joseph  Velazquez, 
Caballero  del  Orden  de  Santiago,  de  la  Academia  Real  de  la  Historia  y  de  las 
Inscripciones,  Medallas  y  Bellas  Letras  de  Paris.    En  Malaga  Ano  1754. 

P.  85.  Origenes,  etc.,  p.  30,  also  p.  68.  Speaking  of  the  contamination  of 
good  taste — "contribuyendo  a  ello  con  su  mal  exemplo  los  Italianos  de  quienes 
nosotros  la  ciencia  habiamos  antes  aprendido.  Este  desaprobado  gusto  pas6  por 
modo  de  contagio  a  los  Espaiioles  que  viajaron  entonces  por  Italia." 

P.  87.  Comedias  y  Entremeses  de  Miguel  de  Cervantes  Saavedra.  Con  una 
dissertacion,  6  Prologo  sobre  las  Comedias  de  Espana.  1749.  Madrid.  The  plays 
included  in  that  collection  are:  T.  I.  El  Gallardo  Espafiol.  La  Casa  de  los  Zelos. 
Los  Banos  de  Argel.  Entremeses :  El  Juez  de  los  Divorcios ;  El  Rufian  Viudo ; 
La  Elecci6n  de  los  Alcaldes  de  Dajanzo.  La  Guarda  cuidadosa.  El  Vizcaino 
fingido.  T.  n.  El  Rufian  dichoso.  La  Gran  Sultana  Dona  Catalina  de  Oviedo. 
El  Laberinto  de  Amor.  La  Entretenida.  Pedro  de  Urdemalas.  Entremeses.  El 
Retablo  de  las  maravillas.    La  Cueva  de  Salamanca.    El  Viejo  zeloso. 

P.  90.  Some  foreigners  took  Nasarre's  theory  quite  seriously.  We  read  the 
following  statement  in  J.  F.  Peyron's  "Nouveau  Voyage  en  Espagne,"  p.  234, 
which  refers  to  Cervantes:  "II  voulut  aussi  corriger  le  theatre.  II  composa 
plusieurs  pieces  si  decousues,  si  eloignees  des  regies  que  prescrit  au  moins  la 
vraisemblance,  mais  si  semblables  en  tout  a  celles  qu'on  jouait  alors,  qu'elles  furent 
regues  avec  applaudissement.  L'ironie  et  la  leQon  furent  perdues  pour  son  siecle. 
.  .  .  Cervantes  n'osa  pas  s'expliquer  d'une  maniere  plus  claire." 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Spread  of  the  Neo-Classic  Doctrines  Among  the  Middle  Class. 

In  the  years  that  intervene  between  the  discontinuation  of  the  gather- 
ings of  the  Academy  of  Good  Taste  and  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  III,  that  is  between  1751  and  1759,  we  do  not  find  any  writings 
devoted  strictly  to  neo-classic  criticism. 

The  Reign  of  Ferdinand  VI. — Ferdinand  VI  had  made  it  his  pol- 
icy to  give  the  country  the  peace  and  rest  which  it  needed  so  much.  His  one 
aim  had  been  to  let  the  government  do  its  work  as  quietly  as  possible ;  he 
was  by  no  means  a  reformer.  New  ideas  received  no  encouragement 
from  him.  The  negative  virtues  of  the  monarch  seem  to  have  acted  as  a 
damper  on  the  influx  of  ideas  from  across  the  Pyrenees,  and  as  we  have 
just  stated  they  found  no  one  single  standard-bearer  during  the  better 
part  of  the  reign. 

During  the  life-time  of  Barbara  of  Braganza  the  Italian  opera  was 
very  popular  at  court.  Italian  singers,  the  most  famous  of  whom  was 
the  royal  favorite,  Farinelli,  gave  elaborately  staged  performances,  but 
after  the  death  of  the  queen  the  grief-stricken  king  fell  into  a  state  of 
quasi-imbecility,  losing  completely  his  interest  in  the  pleasures  as  well  as 
in  the  duties  of  life. 

This  absence  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  ruler,  if  it  did  not  promote 
literary  discussions,  did  not  on  the  other  hand  tend  to  check  the  natural 
development  of  the  germs  which  had  been  sowed  at  times  of  greater  in- 
tellectual activity. 

The  publication  by  Isla  in  1758  of  Fray  Gerundio  testified  to  the 
gradual  spread  of  the  neo-classic  ideals  of  simplicity  during  the  quiescent 
period. 

What  Isla  satirized  with  true  Spanish  verve  in  the  nonsensical  rant- 
ings  of  his  friar  was  the  lack  of  decorum  and  the  scorn  of  reason  exhib- 
ited by  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  practice  sacred  oratory.  Just  as  Hervas 
had  given  a  satire  on  bad  writers,  Isla  gave  a  satire  on  bad  preachers 
and,  though  Fray  Gerundio  made  no  specific  reference  to  neo-classicism, 
it  was  nevertheless  at  once  one  of  its  fruits  and  one  of  its  instruments. 

It  may  also  be  added  that,  throughout  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  VI, 
Feijoo  continued  the  publication  of  his  "Cartas  Eruditas"  and  that  the 
well-known  essay  on  the  greater  usefulness  of  French  as  compared  with 


96  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

Greek  was  given  to  the  public  a  short  time  only  after  the  death  of  the 
king.^^* 

Official  Propaganda  under  Charles  III. — The  coming  to  the  throne 
of  Charles  III  infused  new  vitality  into  the  government  and  indirectly 
into  all  forms  of  intellectual  life  in  Spain.  This  active,  straightforward 
monarch  urged  reforms  in  all  branches  of  administration  and,  as  reforms 
meant  order  and  reason,  the  various  forms  of  Gallic  rationalism  followed 
in  the  wake  of  the  movement.  With  Aranda  as  prime  minister,  neo- 
classicism  made  rapid  progress,  but  at  this  point  we  must  make  one  thing 
clear,  namely,  that  while  one  part  of  this  renewed  movement  was  the 
legitimate  result  of  the  labors  of  Luzan  and  of  Montiano  the  other  was  a 
forced  culture  promoted  by  the  government  and  by  men  who  had  no  dis- 
tinct literary  or  artistic  gifts  but  who  took  up  the  movement  simply 
because  they  felt  that  it  was  an  introduction  to  the  less  innocuous  forms 
of  rationalism  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  were  to  convert  later  in  the 
century  so  many  Spaniards  into  philosophers  and  doctrinaires  of  uncer- 
tain usefulness  to  the  nation. 

Since  this  official  and  unliterary  current  in  the  neo-classic  movement 
is  closely  allied  to  the  purely  literary  and  esthetic  trend  we  must,  before 
taking  up  the  study  of  the  latter,  make  a  statement  describing  the  former. 

This  unliterary  movement  was  primarily  journalistic  in  its  nature. 
Clavijo  y  Fajardo,*  a  man  imbued  with  the  ideas  of  the  French  philoso- 
phers, founded  his  newspaper,  "El  Pensador,"  in  1762,  and  through  it 
began  an  active  campaign  of  aggression  on  the  old  Spanish  stage.^^' 
Another  publicist,  Nifo,  followed  his  example,  though  in  more  measured 
terms,  and  even  hazarding  at  times  words  in  defense  of  authors  who 
were  being  too  roughly  treated  by  his  contemporary.  These  journalistic 
debates  reached  of  course  a  much  larger  public  than  had  been  the  case 
with  the  literary  discussions  of  Luzan  and  Montiano,  which  took  place  pri- 
marily among  a  few  scholars  and  wits,  scarcely  going  out  of  their  polished 
circles. 

Aranda,  who  had  a  genuine  interest  in  the  future  of  the  stage  of  his 
country  and  who,  as  a  minister  of  Charles  III  had  great  faith  in  admin- 
istrative methods,  instituted  a  regular  campaign  of  theatrical  reform. 

In  1763  he  directed  Nifo  to  draw  up  a  plan  of  the  changes  required 
to  regulate  and  improve  the  conditions  of  the  drama  in  Spain.  Aranda 
felt  that  Clavijo  would  have  been  too  drastic  in  his  methods.  Cotarelo 
y  Mori  tells  us  that  Nifo's  ideas  of  reform  were  not  very  far-reaching  "' 
— "todas  se  reducen  a  convertir  el  teatro  en  una  escuela  de  moral  la  que 


"*  B.  A.  E.,  V.  LVI,  p.  xii. 

135  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  pp.  45  and  49.     Note  page  203. 

138  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  p.  49. 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG  MIDDLE  CLASS  97 

proscribiendo  todo  amor  que  no  fuese  filial  y  el  de  la  patria,  sirviese  de 
elemento  educative  hasta  para  los  niiios."  Nifo  spoke  of  Christianizing 
the  stage. 

The  good  intentions  of  the  prime  minister  were  made  ineffective  by 
the  political  disturbances  which  followed,  but  it  was  these  same  argu- 
ments and  this  same  spirit  which  brought  about  in  1765  the  suppression 
of  the  Autos  Sacramentales.  N.  F.  de  Moratin's  "Desenganos,"  which 
we  are  to  take  up  later,  were  but  another  form,  and  perhaps  not  the  most 
effective,  of  the  spirit  expressed  by  the  articles  of  Clavijo  y  Fajardo  and 
of  Nifo."^ 

In  1767,  Bernardo  Iriarte  to  help  out  his  friend  Ayala,  who  had  been 
made  censor  for  the  stage,  wrote  another  plan  of  reform,  more  complete 
than  the  one  by  Nifo.    Cotarelo  y  Mori  gives  the  full  text  of  this  plan.^^^ 

Its  main  ideas  were  that  obscenity  in  subject  and  baseness  in  form 
were  not  to  be  tolerated.  Comedies  were  to  be  altered  so  as  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  unities  and  of  verisimilitude.  In  connection  with  the 
last  named  point  comedies  were  to  be  stripped  of  the  parts  which  made 
it  necessary  for  actors  to  impersonate  such  things  as  the  mane  of  a  horse, 
the  wings  of  an  eagle,  the  horns  of  a  bull,  or  what  not.  Comedies  with 
magic,  with  friars,  or  with  devils  were  to  be  condemned  once  for  all. 

This  idea  of  pruning  and  otherwise  altering  comedies  until  they 
should  fit  in  with  neo-classic  requirements  had  already  been  suggested  by 
Montiano  and  it  is  very  probable  that  in  writing  his  rather  entertaining 
plan  of  reform  the  fabulist's  brother  had  in  mind  the  prefaces  to  the 
Virginia  and  to  the  Athaulfo  as  well  as  Moratin's  "Desenganos."  How- 
ever this  may  be,  Aranda  took  him  at  his  word  and  asked  him  to  select 
from  the  rich  stores  of  seventeenth  century  comedies  those  which  by  a 
few  changes  could  be  made  presentable.  Bernardo  courageously  set  him- 
self to  work  and  out  of  six  hundred  comedies  which  he  examined  he 
picked  out  seventy  which  offered  some  possibility  of  reform. ^^^ 

It  may  be  that  after  all  Bernardo  Iriarte  had  no  great  confidence  in 
this  method  of  preparing  plays  for  the  reformed  stage,  for  he  hastens  to 
suggest  another  way  of  obtaining  good  plays,  namely,  to  translate  the  best 
of  the  French  and  of  the  Italian  repertoires. 

Aranda,  who  listened  to  these  suggestions  and  who  took  them  seri- 
ously, decided  that  the  public  playhouses  of  Madrid  were  not  fit  places  in 
which  to  try  such  experiments.  He  had  already  attempted  various  re- 
forms at  the  theaters  of  "La  Cruz"  and  ''El  Principe."     To  reduce  the 


137  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  p.  45. 

138  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  p.  420. 

139  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  p.  66. 


7 


98  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

rivalry  between  these  two  theaters  he  had  ruled  that  the  companies  of 
each  should  make  use  of  each  other's  halls  in  alternation.  He  had  in- 
creased the  price  of  tickets  so  as  to  obtain  a  fund  for  the  renewing  of 
the  scenery  with  every  new  play.  It  was  due  to  his  protection  that  plays 
like  "Nicopsis"  and  "Hipsipile,"  translated  by  Nifo,""  had  been  presented 
to  the  public  of  Madrid.  In  all  these  endeavors  he  had  met  with  sufficient 
resistance  from  the  general  public  to  feel  the  need  of  being  in  control 
of  playhouses  where  an  audience  in  sympathy  with  his  reforms  could  be 
counted  upon.  This  is  why  he  erected  in  1768  a  tlieatre  in  each  of  the 
main  royal  residences.* 

From  this  date  until  the  fall  of  the  minister,  a  numerous  and  bewild- 
ering array  of  French  and  Italian  tragedies  translated  by  Nifo,  by  Clavijo 
or  by  the  Iriartes  were  performed  on  these  royal  stages  by  picked  com- 
panies of  artists.  Let  us  merely  mention  the  fact  that,  for  the  sake  of 
verisimilitude,  these  translations  were  generally  in  prose.  Such  a  detail 
is  a  decisive  clue  to  the  nature  of  the  spirit  which  animated  this  orgy  of 
regularity  and  of  all  Aristotelian  virtues.* 

This  brief  statement  characterizes  perhaps  sufticiently  the  govern- 
mental side-stream  of  neo-classicism.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  what  with 
the  efforts  of  journalists  and  what  with  the  rulings  of  Aranda,  knowledge 
of  the  neo-classic  rules  must  have  been  spread  broadcast  through  all 
classes  of  society.  In  these  few  years  Aranda  must  have  done  more  for 
their  diffusion  than  all  the  patient  toil  of  the  men  whom  we  have  studied 
in  the  first  part  of  this  essay. 

This  intensive  popularization  was  not  altogether  a  good  thing  for 
the  future  of  the  rules.  First  of  all,  under  the  pens  of  such  writers  as 
Nifo  and  Clavijo,  the  rules  did  not  gain  in  dignity.  The  rules  of  criticism 
when  bellowed  by  journalists  quite  lost  the  philosophical  background 
which  tempered  their  harshness  as,  for  instance,  in  the  work  of  Luzan. 
These  men  already  had,  to  an  unpleasant  degree,  the  cocksureness  and 
the  shallowness  of  the  lesser  "philosophes,"  the  word  being  given  its 
exclusively  eighteenth  century  meaning.  They  added  absolutely  nothing 
to  the  rules ;  quite  on  the  contrary  they  simplified  them  to  such  an  extent 
that  they  made  them  more  mechanical  than  ever  and  altogether  futile. 
They  reduced  all  criticism  to  this :  a  work  must  obviously  have  a  unity, 
be  true  to  Hfe,  dignified,  and  moral.  If  it  fails  to  meet  any  one  of  these 
requirements  it  is  inadequate  as  a  work  of  art.  Judgments  based  on  such 
simple  principles  could  not  fail  to  arouse  the  indignation  of  men  gifted 
with  real  literary  instinct  and  could  not  seem  otherwise  than  absurd  to 
the  masses. 


1*°  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  p.  64. 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG  MIDDLE  CLASS  99 

Even  if  it  had  not  cheapened  criticism  this  governmental  interference 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  ruin  the  future  of  the  rules  of  neo-classic 
criticism  because  the  common  people  were  ready  enough  to  see  in  these 
government  regulations  the  same  pett)'-  and  tyrannical  spirit  which  in 
1766  had  attempted  to  dictate  what  Spaniards  should  wear  and  which 
had  brought  about  a  bloody  uprising  against  the  power  of  the  king.^*^ 

While  this  rather  ill-advised  effort  was  being  made  on  the  part  of 
the  government,  the  literary  men  of  Spain  were  helping  it  with  vigor  and 
with  display  of  true  talent.  They  were  continuing  the  work  begun  by 
Luzan  and  adding  noteworthy  monuments  to  the  critical  literature  of 
Spain. 

iV.  F.  de  Moratin. — The  first  in  date  and  the  most  important  of  these 
literary  champions  of  neo-classicism  was  N.  F.  de  Moratin.  In  1762  and 
1763  this  author  had  come  to  the  support  of  Clavijo  y  Fajardo,  who,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  voiced  the  sentiment  of  many  against  the  public  per- 
formance of  the  Spanish  genre  known  as  the  "Autos  Sacramentales." 
In  his  "Desengaiios  al  Teatro  Espahol"  N.  F.  de  Moratin  attacks  the 
Spanish  stage  with  a  vigor  approached  only  by  the  famous  satire  of 
Hervas  against  the  bad  writers  of  his  day,  and  with  an  effort  at  logic 
worthy  of  Luzan  himself.  In  these  aggressive  prose  essays  N.  F.  de 
Moratin  aims  at  having  all  his  remarks  based  on  firm  reason.  "All 
sciences  are  founded  on  Nature  and  poetry  is  a  science."  Any  science  not 
based  on  Nature  is  nonsense,  and  when  that's  said  everything  is  said. 
Some  may  claim  that,  after  all,  man's  will  is  free  and  that  what  was  right 
for  Aristotle  may  be  nonsense  so  far  as  we  are  concerned.  No,  sir! 
Nature  created  the  rules ;  Aristotle  was  the  merest  observer  of  Nature 
and  any  simpleton,  had  he  stopped  to  think,  could  have  culled  them  and 
tabulated  them  with  as  much  success  as  the  great  philosopher.  "He  saw 
that  the  whole  purpose  of  the  stage  was  to  deceive  .  .  ."  and  with  this 
statement  the  lively  author  starts  on  a  swiftly  moving  disquisition  on 
verisimilitude  and  the  unities  with  occasional  vitriolic  side-flings  at  the 
hostile  party.  In  the  course  of  the  philippic  Lope  reaps  his  reward  for 
the  too  great  desire  which  he  had  displayed  of  catering  to  the  whims  of 
the  lower  classes.  Lope  had  stated  in  his  "Arte  Nuevo  de  Hacer  Come- 
dias"  that  the  thing  to  do  was  to  please  the  public,  leaving  the  reader  to 
conclude  that  it  was  none  of  the  author's  fault  if  the  taste  of  the  public 
was  bad.  N.  F.  de  Moratin  has  no  patience  with  this  casuistry :  "Believe 
me,  to  bring  it  about  that  works  written  according  to  rules  fail  to  please 
the  public,  the  Almighty  Power  of  God  would  have  to  turn  the  whole 
order  of  Nature  topsy-turvy,  because  art  is  based  on  Nature  and  to  speak 

^*^  F.  Rousseau,  Le  regne  de  Charles  III.    d'Espagne,  v.  I,  ch.  vi. 


\ 


100  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

of  a  work  written  according  to  art  is  to  speak  of  a  good  work."  This 
is  so  well  known,  he  continues,  that  irregular  comedies  do  not  hope  to 
please  the  public  on  their  own  merits.  They  depend  more  and  more  for 
success  on  pageants,  on  machines  and  most  of  all  on  the  number  and  the 
attractiveness  of  the  "corps  de  ballet"  of  the  companies  which  present 
them  to  the  public.  Such  men  as  Lope  and  Calderon,  far  from  stooping 
to  satisfy  the  common  taste,  have  done  everything  to  debase  it  from  its 
healthful  condition  to  that  of  their  own.* 

The  second  and  the  third  of  these  essays  treat  exclusively  of  the 
"Autos"  of  Calderon  and  by  applying  strictly  the  doctrines  of  verisimili- 
tude and  of  didactic  morality  the  author  completely  flays  them  in  spite 
of  the  real  merits  of  so  many  of  these  compositions.  For  this  Moratin 
should  not  be  blamed  too  severely.  The  case  of  the  autos  was  precisely 
that  of  the  Comedia.  The  great  dramatists  of  the  seventeenth  century 
had  written  plenty  of  magnificent  plays  but  they  were  made  to  suffer 
for  their  few  failures  and  for  the  impotence  of  their  imitators.  Likewise 
the  playing,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  of  immoral  or  even  obscene  autos 
brought  disgrace  on  the  author  who  had  given  the  best  representatives 
of  the  genre. 

There  is  a  striking  contradiction  between  the  style  of  N.  F.  de 
Moratin  in  these  essays  and  the  subject  matter  treated.  The  style  by 
its  dash,  its  brilliancy  and  its  mobility  is  worthy  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury and  we  have  seen  how  didactic  the  subject  matter  is.  It  is  very 
interesting  to  read  subject  matter  worthy  of  Boileau  couched  in  style 
not  unlike  that  of  Quevedo. 

This  contradiction  is  not  a  superficial  matter.  It  really  existed  in 
the  nature  of  the  man,  for  N.  F.  de  Moratin  was  very  much  in  the  posi- 
tion of  Porcel,  that  member  of  the  Academy  of  Good  Taste  whose  doc- 
trines condemned  the  very  productions  of  his  pen.  The  same  year  which 
saw  the  publication  of  the  "Desengahos"  saw  also  that  of  Moratin's 
comedy  "La  Petimetra,"  a  work  written  with  all  the  rigor  of  the  art 
except  for  the  fact  that  it  contains  but  three  acts,  rhymed  in  assonance, 
and  which  by  its  general  tone  in  no  way  gave  the  impression  of  being  a 
neo-classic  piece  of  work.  N.  F.  de  Moratin  was  not  isolated  in  his  lit- 
erary effort  to  curb  writers  to  the  use  of  the  rules.  The  days  of  the 
Academy  of  Good  Taste  had  long  gone  by,  but  a  group  of  authors  had 
in  a  somewhat  different  spirit  taken  up  its  work.  This  group  of  Uterary 
men  met  at  an  inn  kept  by  an  Italian  and  it  became  known  as  "La  Ter- 
tulia  de  la  Fonda  de  San  Sebastian." 

Cotarelo  y  Mori  in  his  "fipoca  de  Iriarte"  has  given  all  that  is  known 
about  this  company  of  authors.^*^   They  met  informally  and  were  to  talk 

1*2  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  pp.  112-127. 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG  MIDDLE  CLASS  101 

only  on  topics  dealing  with  poetry,  the  stage  or  bull  fights.  Among  their 
numbers  were  many  Italians,  Signorelli  and  Conti  being  the  most  im- 
portant of  these,  while  Moratin,  Iriarte  and  Cadalso  were  the  most 
capable  of  the  Spaniards  who  frequented  these  meetings. 

Menendez  y  Pelayo  ^*^  and  Cotarelo  y  Mori  have  remarked  upon  this 
Italian  element  present  in  the  tertulia.  Both  have  pointed  out  with 
evident  relief  that  the  influence  of  that  body  when  it  was  not  purely 
Spanish  was  at  least  Italian  and  not  French.  This  is  of  course  true  in 
the  matters  dealing  with  lyric  poetry.  The  only  French  poet  who  was 
at  all  read  was  J.  B.  Rousseau,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  really  im- 
portant influence  of  the  tertulia  was  along  neo-classic  lines,  or  at  least 
its  most  visible  effort  was  along  those  lines  and  what  did  it  matter 
whether  the  rules  were  expounded  by  Spaniards  or  by  Italians?  The 
very  fact  that  they  were  expounded  at  all,  at  this  late  date,  was  a  tribute 
to  Corneille,  to  Racine,  to  Voltaire  and  to  many  of  their  compatriots  less 
worthy  of  the  honor.  There  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  neo-classicism 
in  the  eyes  of  the  contemporaries  of  Signorelli  was  a  French  form  of 
thought. 

The  prominent  members  of  the  "Tertulia"  of  San  Sebastian  under- 
took to  create  original  plays  as  had  already  been  done  by  Montiano. 
These  plays  were  to  displace  the  multitude  of  translations  which  had 
sprung  up  under  the  patronage  of  Aranda.  N.  F.  de  Moratin  himself 
gave  three  tragedies ;  his  friend  Ayala  is  remembered  for  his  "Numancia 
Destruida" ;  Cadalso  composed  his  "Sancho  Garcia."  Similar  efforts  were 
made  by  men  not  belonging  to  the  Tertulia.  Thus  Huerta  gave  his 
"Raquel,"  Sedano  his  "Jabel'"  arid  Triguero  his  "Witing." 

With  the  exception  of  "Raquet/'  none  of  these  tragedies  possessed 
the  qualities  necessary  to  success.  To  study  them  in  detail  would  be  a  task 
as  dreary  as  it  would  be  useless,  for  they  share  with  Montiano's  works, 
their  dullness,  their  frigidity  and  their  artificial  character.  To  be  con- 
vinced of  this  we  need  but  glance  at  the  best  two  of  the  group,  the  "Hor- 
mesinda"  of  Moratin  and  the  "Sancho  Garcia"  of  Cadalso. 

Moratin's  Hormesinda. — Hormesinda,  the  sister  of  Pelayo,  has 
been  compelled  during  her  brother's  absence  to  give  her  hand  to  the 
Moorish  renegade  Munuza.  The  lady  does  not  hesitate  to  show  her 
scorn  for  her  husband  and  Tulga,  the  latter's  servant,  advises  his  master 
to  do  away  first  with  her  and  then  with  her  brother,  thus  obtaining  full 
political  control. 

Pelayo  returns  and  eagerly  seeks  his  sister  to  tell  her  of  his  recent 
successes.  After  a  long  monologue  to  that  effect,  he  discerns  that  the 
lady  is  weeping  in  spite  of  the  good  news  brought  by  her  brother.     The 


1*3  Ideas  Esteticas  ;    Heterodoxos. 


102  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

cause  of  these  tears  is  that  Hormesinda  does  not  dare  tell  her  brother  of 
her  forced  marriage.  Pelayo  becomes  very  suspicious  at  this  show  of 
grief.  He  suspects  her  honor  and  his  suspicions  increase  when  old 
Trasamundo  hints  darkly  that  everything  is  not  well  with  the  hero's 
sister. 

Soon  Pelayo  cordially  greets  Munuza,  who  after  a  few  words  of 
welcome  shows  him  forged  proofs  of  the  bad  moral  character  and  of 
the  bad  political  faith  of  Hotmesinda.  Pelayo,  at  his  next  meeting  with 
his  sister,  reproaches  her  in  general  terms  such  as  befit  neo-classic  style. 
Hormesinda  is  thus  led  to  believe  that  her  brother  has  discovered  her 
shameful  marriage  with  the  renegade.  She  faints  and  just  then  enters 
Trasamundo  who  urges  Pelayo  to  avenge  the  wrong  done  his  family. 
Of  course  the  old  man  is  talking  about  the  marriage  forced  upon  Hor- 
mesinda while  Pelayo  thinks  that  he  is  referring  to  the  matter,  brought 
up  by  Munuza.  Munuza  urges  Pelayo  to  take  revenge  on  his  sister,  and 
the  hero,  goaded  on  by  so  many  fiery  words  and  by  such  tangible  proofs, 
talks  a  great  deal  and  threatens  at  every  word  though  no  action  takes 
place. 

After  a  time  Hormesinda  discovers  that  what  she  is  blamed  for  is 
not  her  marriage.  She  boldly  reproaches  Pelayo  for  his  lack  of  faith  in 
her  and  calls  on  the  testimony  of  Trasamundo  to  clear  her  of  all  wrongs, 
but  luck  has  it  that  Trasamundo  leaves  at  that  very  moment  and  Pelayo, 
who  was  on  the  point  of  believing  his  sister  innocent,  now  condemns 
her  to  death.  We  hear  that  all  preparations  have  been  made  outside  the 
walls  for  the  execution  and  soon  after  the  death  of  Hormesinda  is 
announced. 

In  the  meanwhile  Trasamundo  has  succeeded  in  saying  the  few  words 
which  uttered  sooner  could  have  spared  his  friend  such  great  tribulations. 
Pelayo  is  at  last  enlightened,  he  dashes  out  in  search  of  the  traitor 
Munuza  but  not  without  having  first  expressed  his  indignation  at  length. 

Suddenly  Hormesinda  enters.  As  she  was  about  to  be  burnt,  a  party 
of  bold  Cantabrians  appeared  below  the  walls,  rescued  the  lady  and, 
under  the  leadership  of  Alfonso,  forced  their  way  to  the  palace.  Pelayo 
who  had  gone  into  the  city  to  slay  Munuza  now  returns  in  time  to  kill 
Tulga.    The  tragedy  ends  with  the  punishment  of  all  culprits. 

In  considering  the  plot  only,  this  tragedy  is  unusually  weak  from  the 
fact  that  all  complications  arise  from  the  incredible  lack  of  understand- 
ing of  Trasamundo  and  the  stupidity  of  Pelayo,  who  because  of  the  words 
of  one  person  condemns  his  sister  to  death,  then  through  the  words  of 
another  restores  her  to  his  confidence  and  finally  condemns  her  again  be- 
cause of  forged  documents  which  he  does  not  take  the  trouble  to  examine. 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG  MIDDLE  CLASS  103 

This  dilettante's  method  of  administering  justice  is  the  foundation  of 
the  plot.     It  is  so  artificial  as  to  make  everything  else  unreal. 

Besides  these  faults  in  plot  construction  the  tragedy  suffers  from  the 
diction  used  by  Moratin.  The  tone  is  one  of  hysterical  excitement  right 
through.  Hormesinda  complains  as  loudly  about  her  forced  marriage 
as  she  does  about  her  unjust  condemnation  to  death  and  Pelayo  indulges 
in  monologues  of  disheartening  length. 

Cadalso  states  that  the  classics  were  Moratin's  model*  and  he  points 
out  the  parallelism  existing  between  the  description  in  Act  I  of  the  vic- 
tory of  Pelayo  with  the  passage  in  Virgil  where  Hector  appears  to 
Aeneas.  Notwithstanding  such  resemblances,  the  style  as  a  whole  gives 
the  impression  of  being  a  close  imitation  of  the  "style  eleve"  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century  in  France.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  abuse  of  general 
terms  is  in  part  responsible  for  the  inability  of  the  characters  to  under- 
stand one  another  earlier  in  the  play.  What  is  more,  certain  phrases 
used  most  frequently  would,  by  being  translated  literally,  give  good 
French  expressions,  most  of  them  time-honored  "chevilles"  of  the  neo- 
classic  drama  of  France.^** 

It  was  in  part  these  defects  and  in  part  the  undiscriminating  dislike 
of  the  public  for  all  productions  claiming  to  be  written  in  the  observance 
of  the  rules  that  made  Hormesinda  a  play  doomed  to  failure. 

Aranda  tried  in  every  way  to  insure  the  success  of  the  play.  He 
chose  the  best  troops  of  actors  and  the  hall  of  the  treatre  of  the  "Prin- 
cipe" was  filled  with  partisans  of  the  neo-classic  movement.  The  play 
was  performed  for  the  first  time  on  February  12,  1770,  and  met  with 
scant  success.  It  lingered  for  five  days  more  and  then  was  definitely 
abandoned. ^*° 

Cotarelo  y  Mori  has  published  an  anonymous  letter  which  he  found 
among  the  papers  of  Tomas  de  Iriarte  and  which  is  a  judgment  of  the 
Hormesinda  combined  with  an  attack  on  Ramon  de  la  Cruz.  The  author 
of  the  letter  states  concretely  the  purpose  of  his  paper  by  quoting  the 
lines  in  which  an  unknown  pen  made  the  author  of  the  "Sainetes"  say: 

No  acerto  Moratin  en  su  Hormesinda, 
Ergo  cuanto  yo  escribo  es  acertado.^*® 

This  criticism  of  the  Hormesinda  remarks,  as  we  had  done  our- 
selves quite  independently,  on  the  weakness  of  the  plot.  It  is  of  such  a 
nature  that  "desde  los  principios  del  drama  esta  previendo  el  auditorio  que 
a1  instante  que  el  heroe  se  tome  el  trabajo  de  escuchar  a  cualquiera  de  ellos 


1**  F.  Rousseau.  Hjstoire  du  regne  de  Ch.  Ill  d'Esp.,  v.  I,  p.  362. 
1*5  F.  Rousseau.  Histoire  du  regne  de  Ch.  Ill  d'Esp.,  v.  I,  p.  362. 
1*6  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  pp.  441  ff. 


104  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

ha  de  desengaiiarse  y  que  no  se  deshace  el  enredo  desde  la  escene  IV.  del 
acto  II.  porqiie  el  poeta  no  quiere." 

Next,  the  author  of  the  letter  remarks  on  the  good  quality  of  some 
of  the  verse — "hay  versos  tan  buenos  que  si  la  Hormesinda  fuera  poema 
epico  y  no  tragedia  acreditarian  el  buen  gusto  de  su  autor."  Unfor- 
tunately these  good  qualities  are  marred  by  the  evidence  of  the  grossest 
carelessness  on  the  part  of  Moratin.  "No  quiero  cansar  a  Vd.  con  acor- 
darle  las  innumerables  y  uniformes  exclamaciones  que  abundan  en  la 
tragedia  como :  ";  Ay  Cielo  Santo !"  ;  Ay  Dios !  Ay  triste !  i  Ay  des- 
dichada !  Baste  decir  que  un  amigo  mio  que  quiso  divertirse  en  contar 
las  veces  que  en  ella  se  repite  la  interjecion  jay!  perdio  la  cuenta  y  la 
paciencia."  .  .  .  To  these  marks  of  carelessness  may  be  added  one  even 
greater,  that  of  systematically  filling  in  short  verses  by  introducing  ad- 
jectives in  the  superlative. 

Bernardo  Iriarte  in  his  plan  of  reform  already  cited  sums  up  all  this 
criticism  by  saying  that  "Hormesinda"  is  a  play  containing  five  acts  and 
5,000  pieces  of  nonsense. ^*^ 

The  fate  of  Moratin's  Hormesinda  did  not  deter  Cadalso  from 
attempting  to  win  success  in  the  drama. 

Cadalso.  His  "Sancho  Garcia." — On  January  21,  1771,  less  than  a 
year  after  the  downfall  of  the  Hormesinda,  Cadalso  presented  to  the 
public,  through  the  agency  of  the  theatre  of  "La  Cruz,"  his  regular 
tragedy  entitled  "Sancho  Garcia." 

This  tragedy  was  not  the  first  one  composed  by  the  author.  Prompt- 
ed by  his  love  for  the  famous  actress,  Maria  Ignacia  Ibanez,  he  had 
already  written  a  play  entitled  "Las  Circasianas"  but  he  had  been  unable 
to  obtain  the  necessary  printing  permit  and  absolutely  nothing  is  known 
about  this  work. 

The  performance  of  "Sancho  Garcia"  took  place  under  auspices 
even  more  favorable  than  those  of  "Hormesinda,"  for  the  faithful  mis- 
tress of  the  author  took  the  part  of  Dofia  Ava,  but  neither  love  nor 
genius  cou.ld  save  Cadalso's  tragedy  from  absolute  failure.  It  was  played 
only  five  days  and  during  the  last  two  the  theatre  was  practically  empty. 

As  in  the  case  of  Moratin's  tragedy  the  plot  was  unsatisfactory 
while,  in  addition,  the  versification  nowhere  showed  any  particular 
charm.  Cotarelo  y  Mori  describes  it  as  "insoportable  a  castellanos  oidos" 
because  of  the  monotony  arising  from  the  poet's  attempt  to  imitate  the 
French  classic  meter.^*^  • 

A  brief  anaylsis  of  this  play  will  prove  that,  as  in  the  case  of  Hor- 

1*7  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  p.  422. 
1*8  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  p.  97. 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG  MIDDLE  CLASS  105 

mesinda,  the  public  of  Madrid  had  exercised  excellent  judgment  in  con- 
demning it. 

Dofia  Ava,  the  widowed  countess  of  Castile,  is  deeply  infatuated 
with  Almanzor  the  Moorish  ruler  of  Cordoba.  The  king,  who  knows 
of  the  lady's  passion  for  him,  proceeds  to  make  use  of  this  knowledge 
to  further  his  own  political  ends.  With  amazing  brutality  and  lack  of 
diplomatic  skill,  he  announces  to  his  victim  that  the  only  way  for  her  to 
secure  his  affection  is  by  doing  away  with  her  only  son,  who,  of  course, 
is  heir  apparent  to  the  throne  of  Castile. 

Aleck,  the  favorite  of  Alomanzor,  respectfully  rebukes  his  master  for 
his  brutality  and  is  promptly  disgraced  but  the  countess,  rather  than 
lose  the  privilege  of  her  lover's  presence,  makes  the  plans  necessary  to 
the  fulfillment  of  his  will.  The  boy  is  to  be  poisoned  during  a  banquet 
purported  to  be  in  the  honor  of  the  departing  ruler. 

The  time  for  the  banquet  comes,  but  fortunately  Don  Gonzalo,  the 
boy's  squire,  has  learned  of  the  plot  through  Dona  Ava's  "confidente" 
and  besides  the  queen  becomes  disturbed  at  the  crucial  moment  and 
drains  the  posset  destined  for  her  son.  Don  Gonzalo,  as  the  expiring 
queen  confesses  her  guilt,  has  Almanzor  arrested  but  the  Moor  finds 
time  to  stab  himself  and  to  tell  the  queen  that  he  never  has  had  any  love 
for  her.  As  the  two  culprits  perish,  the  public  is  admonished  not  to  ig- 
nore the  morality  of  the  dreadful  tale.  .  .  . 

Venerese  en  castigo  tan  severo  ^*® 
El  brazo  de  los  cielos  justiciero. 

The  language  of  the  tragedy,  although  it  is  not  distinctly  rhythmic, 
is  very  clear  but  this  good  quality  is  not  a  sufficient  compensation  for 
the  brutality  of  the  theme  and  the  incredible  rigidity  of  the  characters. 
Almanzor  is  a  brute  throughout ;  Aleck  is  the  type  of  the  perfect  vassal ; 
Dona  Ava  is  an  absolutely  bad  mother ;  Sancho,  her  son.  is  an  admirable 
little  being,  perfect  as  son,  perfect  as  prince. 

Cadalso's  Literarx  Criticism. — The  complete  failure  of  Cadalso  as  a 
tragic  author  is  only  the  more  disappointing  from  the  fact  that  the  ideas 
which  he  expresses  concerning  criticism  are  unusually  keen  and  compre- 
hensive. He  is  only  one  more  illustration  of  the  fact  that  critical  power 
is  by  no  means  an  assurance  of  success  in  original  composition. 

In  Cadalso  there  is  none  of  the  rigidity  and  the  fanaticism  which 
make  the  critical  writings  of  N.  F.  de  Moratin  so  direct  and  so  amusing. 
Cadalso  is  infinitely  more  supple  and  more  intelligent  than  his  friend. 
On  last  analysis,  he  sides  with  the  neo-classic  school  but  not  to  the  extent 


149  Obras  de  Don  Jose  Cadahalso.     3  vols.     Madrid,   1818.     Sancho  Garcia. 
Tragedia  Espanola  original. 


106  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

of  being  blinded  to  the  weak  and  even  ridiculous  sides  of  the  system.  His 
admiration  for  the  French  school  is  not  so  great  as  to  prevent  him  from 
seeking  for  weak  points  even  in  its  masterpieces.  Quoting  the  lines  of 
Boileau's  "Art  Poetique"  to  which  we  have  already  referred,  that  is  to 
the  famous  passage  beginning  "Un  rimeur  sans  peril  .  .  ."  he  adds  ^'° 
"Y  aqui  'inter  nos'  digo  en  parte  que  no  tiene  razon  y  en  parte  que  la 
tiene.  No  la  tiene  en  decir  'un  spectacle  grossier'  porque  ya  veis  que 
esto  no  es  buena  crianza.  ..."  After  censuring  Boileau  he  mildly  re- 
proaches Corneille  for  lack  of  Spanish  local  color  in  his  "Cid"  and  when 
he  comes  to  deal  with  Racine  he  plays  that  poet  the  mischievous  trick 
of  translating  the  monologue  of  Theramene  in  a  way  which  emphasizes 
greatly  those  points  of  the  discourse  which  he  feels  partake  of  the  nature 
of  Calderon's  Gongorism.  "Dije  que  en  la  tragedia  intitulada  Fedra  de 
este  autor  habia  una  relacion  muy  parecida  a  las  que  se  hablan  en  los 
dramas  de  Calderon  y  otros."  After  having  put  the  monologue  into 
"romancillo"  verse  and  having  made  the  most  of  Hippolytus's  death  and 
of  the  fabulous  circumstances  of  the  same,  he  adds,  that  with  the  proper 
actor  "vera  que  no  se  distingue  esto  de  una  relacion  del  'Negro  mas 
prodigioso'  u  otra  semejante."  ^^^ 

This  sly  little  attack  on  a  French  author  of  unquestioned  excellence 
was  merely  a  sort  of  pastime.  The  bulk  of  his  criticism  is  directed 
against  the  national  school  or  against  those  of  his  countrymen  who  have 
given  themselves  the  title  of  literary  critics  without  possessing  either 
sufficient  natural  judgment  or  adequate  preparation  to  fulfill  the  delicate 
tasks  expected  from  those  who  really  belong  to  that  profession.  He 
blames  those  poets  of  his  own  day  who,  in  spite  of  the  teaching  which 
had  made  the  eighteenth  century  famous,  "mueren  todavia,  digamoslo 
asi  de  la  misma  peste  de  que  pocos  escaparon  entonces.  Varios  oradores 
y  poetas  de  estos  dias  parece  que  no  son  sino  sombras  6  almas  de  los 
que  murieron  cien  anos  ha."  ^^-  Following  this  statement  which  he  puts 
in  the  mouth  of  the  main  speaker  of  his  "Cartas  Marruecas"  he  quotes 
a  number  of  extravagant  titles  of  books  and  of  comedies  which  have 
appeared  since  the  year  1751  "cuando  ya  era  creible  que  se  hubiera  aca- 
bado  toda  hinchazon  y  pedanteria."  ^^^ 

Continuing  his  disquisition  on  Boileau's  fling  at  the  Spanish  stage, 
he  shows  his  agreement  on  the  whole  with  the  opinion  of  the  French 
critic  by  describing  at  large  and  in  witty  language  a  typical  "comedia"  of 

150  Cadalso,  v.  I,  p.  144. 

151  Cadalso,  v.  I,  p.  146. 

152  Cadalso,  v.  I,  p.  156. 

163  Cartas  Marruecas,  No.  LXXVII,  p.  311,  v.  III. 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG   MIDDLE  CLASS  107 

the  eighteenth  century  decadence.  This  description  is  surely  worth  quot- 
ing in  full.  "No  peyno  canas,  gracias  a  Dios,  y  me  acuerdo  haber  visto 
una  comedia  famosa,  (asi  lo  decia  el  cartel)  en  que  el  Cardenal  Cisneros 
con  todas  sus  reverendas  iba  de  Madrid  a  Oran  y  volvia  de  Oran  a  Mad- 
rid en  un  abrir  y  cerrar  de  ojos ;  alii  habia  angeles  y  diablos,  cristianos  y 
moros,  mar  y  corte,  Africa  y  Europa,  etc.,  y  bajaba  Santiago  en  su  caballo 
bianco  y  daba  cuchilladas  al  aire  matando  tanto  perro  moro  que  era  un  con- 
suelo  para  mi  y  para  todo  buen  soldado  cristiano ;  por  seiias  que  se  des- 
calzo  un  angelon  de  madera  de  los  de  la  comitiva  del  campeon  celeste  y 
por  poco  mata  medio  patio  lleno  de  christianos  viejos  que  estabamos  con 
las  bocas  abierta.s,  no  pareciendonos  bastantes  los  ojos  para  ver  tanta 
cosa  como  alii  veiamos  con  estos  ya  dichos  ojos  que  han  de  comer  los 
gusanos  de  la  tierra."  ^^* 

Bad  critics  receive  many  cuts  from  the  swift  lash  of  our  poet  and 
satirist.  In  the  "Cartas  Marruecas"  he  compares  them  to  mad  bulls 
which  in  their  rage  destroy  everything  about  them,  losing  their  own  lives 
in  the  process. ^^^  "Solo  se  valen  de  una  especie  de  instinto  que  les  queda 
para  hacer  daiio  a  todos  cuantos  se  les  presenten  y  sea  amigo  6  enemigo, 
debil  6  fuerte,  inocente  6  culpado." 

In  the  "Eruditos  a  la  Violeta,"  a  series  of  pamphlets  directed  against 
the  multitude  of  the  small  minds  who  have  learned  the  phraseology  of 
the  rationalistic  movement  but  have  not  caught  a  spark  of  the  spirit 
which  made  it  a  respectable  form  of  thought,  he  defines  the  function  of 
the  true  critic  in  society :  "La  critica  es,  digamoslo  asi,  la  policia  de  la 
Republica  literaria.  Es  la  que  inspecciona  lo  bueno  y  lo  malo  que  se  intro- 
duce en  su  dominio  .  .  .  debieran  ser  unos  sujetos  de  conocido  talento 
.  .  .  pero  seria  corto  el  numero  de  los  candidatos  para  tan  apreciable 
empleo."  ^^^  After  this  he  proceeds  to  flay  the  neo-classic  rabble  together 
with  those  who  with  equal  lack  of  talent  and  good  faith  are  opposed  to 
neo-classicism.  "Primero,  despreciad  todo  lo  antiguo,  6  todo  lo  mod- 
erno ;  escoged  uno  de  estos  dictamenes  y  seguidle  slstematicamente ; 
pero  las  voces  modernas  y  antiguas  no  tengan  en  nuestros  labios  sentido 
determinado ;  no  fixeis  jamas  la  epoca  de  la  muerte  6  nacimiento  de  lo 
bueno  ni  de  lo  malo.  .  .  .  Segundo,  con  igual  discernimiento  escogereis 
entre  nuestra  literatura  y  la  extrangera.  Si  es  mas  natural  escogeis  todo 
lo  extrangero  .  .  .  escoged  cuatro  libros.  .  .  .  Franceses  que  hablan  de 
nosotros  peor  que  de  los  negros  de  Angola  .  .  .  y  aun  haced  cacr  lluvias 
de  sangre  sobre  todas  las  obras  cuyos  autores  hayan  tenido  la  grande  y 


154  Cartas  Marruecas,  No.  LXXVII.  p.  311,  v.  III. 

155  Cartas  Marruecas,  v.  I,  p.  99. 

156  Cartas  Marruecas. 


108  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

nunca  bastante  llorada  desgracia  de  ser  paisanos  de  los  Senecas,  Quin- 
tilianos,  Marciales,^"  etc." 

In  another  portion  of  his  work,  Cadalso  anticipates  L.  F.  de  Mo- 
ratin,  describing  the  type  of  the  pedant  which  we  are  to  meet  later  in 
this  study  in  the  "Siege  of  Vienna."  "No  obstante  citad  a  Euripides, 
Sophocles,  Seneca,  Terencio  y  Plauto,  y  una  pieza  de  cada  uno.  Con 
esto  y  con  repetir  a  menudo  las  palabras  del  conjuro,  unidad,  prologo, 
catastrophe,  episodio,  escena,  acto  etc.  .  .  .  os  tendran  por  pozos  de 
ciencia  poetico-tragico-comico-grecolatina  .  .  •  y  pobre  del  autor  que 
saque  su  pieza  al  publico  sin  vuestra  aprobacion."  ^^^  This  is  the  jargon 
of  the  "fruits  sees"  of  the  neo-classic  movement.  We  shall  recognize 
its  gibberish  in  the  second  act  of  the  "Comedia  Nueva." 

More  quotations  could  be  made.  They  would  only  make  still  more 
evident  the  conclusion  that,  though  Cadalso  failed  as  a  playwright,  he 
had  unusual  gifts  as  a  critic  and  that  he  stated  in  a  brilliant  manner 
what  there  was  in  neo-classicism  which  could  benefit  the  literature  of  his 
country  and  what  was  merely  deadening  rationalism  and  pedantry. 

The  third  important  member  of  the  Tertulia  de  San  Sebastian  was 
Don  Tomas  de  Iriarte  who,  though  inferior  as  a  lyric  poet  to  either 
Moratin  or  Cadalso,  surpassed  both  in  learning  and  in  the  art  of  writing 
prose. 

Tomds  de  Iriarte. — Tomas  de  Iriarte,  leaving  the  Canary  Islands  at 
an  early  age,  had  come  to  Madrid  to  study  under  the  guidance  of  his 
uncle  Juan  de  Iriarte,  who  was  the  director  of  the  royal  library.  This 
learned  humanist  had  given  his  nephew  a  sound  education  based  on  the 
classics  and  had  instilled  in  him  the  principles  which  he  himself  had 
learned  during  his  years  of  study  in  Rouen  and  in  Paris.  The  school- 
mate of  Voltaire  at  the  lycee  "Louis  le  Grand,"  and  the  former  contrib- 
utor to  the  "Diario  de  los  Literatos"  could  not  fail  to  bring  up  his 
nephew  in  the  fear  of  the  rules  and  in  the  love  of  literary  regularity. 

This  education  bore  early  fruits.  When  only  nineteen,  Tomas  de 
Iriarte  began  his  many  translations  for  the  royal  theatres  created  by 
Aranda  and  a  year  later  in  1770  he  composed  his  first  regular  play  en- 
titled "Hacer  que  hacemos."  Cotarelo  y  Mori  says  of  it  that  its  principal 
character,  a  man  who,  while  always  in  a  mad  rush,  never  accomplishes 
anything,  is  so  overdrawn  that  even  the  excellent  qualities  of  the  versifica- 
tion could  not  save  the  comedy  from  failure.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in 
spite  of  the  author's  efforts,  the  comedy  was  never  played. 

The  first  classic  manifesto  of  Iriarte  was  his  "Literatos  en  Cuares- 


^^^  Cartas  Marruecas,  v.  I,  p.  99. 
15^  Cartas  Marruecas,  v.  I,  p.  ZZ. 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG   MIDDLE  CLASS  109 

ma,"  a  set  of  pamphlets  more  or  less  in  imitation  of  Cadalso's  "Eniditos 
a  la  Violeta"  and  published  a  year  later  in  1773. 

There  was  to  be  a  series  of  discourses  on  literary  and  philosophical 
subjects.  Theophrastus,  Cicero,  Cervantes,  Boileau,  Pope  and  Tasso 
were  to  speak  in  turns.  Only  two  essays  were  actually  written  but  they 
are  sufficient  to  give  us  a  clear  idea  of  the  young  author's  attitude  to- 
wards the  neo-classic  rules.  He  adopts  them  reverentially  and  com- 
pletely. He  differs  from  Moratin  and  from  Cadalso  in  the  greater  clear- 
ness and  dignity  with  which  he  expresses  his  hterary  faith.  Further- 
more he  brings  in  an  element  which  is  distinctly  his  own — he  can  not  insist 
too  much  upon  the  necessity  of  using  pure  Castilian:  "sobre  todo  un 
castellano  correcto,  sin  versos  duros  ni  arrastrados,  y  sin  mezcla  de 
galicismos,  de  que  Dios  nos  libre  por  su  amor  y  misericordia." 

It  stands  to  reason  that  this  well  trained  humanist  looked  upon  the 
French  school  not  as  a  movement  to  be  followed  because  it  was  French, 
but  because  he  saw  in  it  the  purest  modern  manifestation  of  the  spirit 
of  the  Ancients.  He  did  not  hesitate  as  between  Boileau  and  Horace. 
To  help  the  neo-classic  movement  he  published  in  1777  the  "Arte  Poet- 
ica."  With  the  publication  of  this  work  begins  that  series  of  literary 
quarrels  which  were  to  embitter  the  life  of  Iriarte  and  to  lessen  his  use- 
fulness as  a  writer  by  taking  too  much  of  his  best  thought  and  energy. 

The  few  words  that  we  need  to  say  about  these  matters  are  taken 
entirely  from  the  work  of  Cotarelo  y  Mori  on  Iriarte  where  these  quar- 
rels are  studied  in  detail. 

Sedano,  the  editor  of  the  compilation  known  as  "El  Parnaso  Espaiiol," 
was  offended  by  some  slighting  remarks  made  by  Iriarte  in  the  preface 
of  the  "Arte  Poetica."  The  editor,  who  was  not  a  man  of  any  great 
learning,  made  himself  ridiculous  by  his  criticism  of  Iriarte's  translation 
and  drew  upon  his  head  the  dialogue  entitled  "Donde  las  dan  las  toman." 
This  dialogue  is  a  model  of  fluid  and  flexible  prose,  which  made  short 
work  of  Sedano's  vituperative  attack. 

Iriarte  first  meets  easily  the  absurd  objections  of  his  enemy  by  prov- 
ing beyond  the  possibiUty  of  a  doubt  that  Sedano  did  not  know  Latin 
and  then  he  proceeds  to  ridicule  his  neo-classic  tragedy  entitled  "Jahel." 
This  work  was  written  according  to  Montiano's  recipe  and  exhibited  the 
worst  traits  of  the  stillborn  neo-classic  tragedies  of  Spain.  Exterior  cor- 
rectness could  not  save  the  "Jahel"  from  the  sarcastic  yet  correctly  ex- 
pressed flings  of  Iriarte  whose  "Traductor"  in  his  conversation  with 
"Don  Justo"  takes  great  pleasure  in  counting  the  lines  of  the  series  of 
monologues  which  form  the  tragedy.  "Y  ahora  ahado  que  no  es  como- 
quiera  fria,  sino  helada,  garapinada  y  acarambanada  y  que  de  ella  digo 
y  dire  por  las  demostradas  razones  lo  que  sin  demostrar  las  suyas,  dijo 


110  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

de  mi  traduccion  el  Sefior  Sedano ;  conviene  a  saber  que  es  'dilatadisima, 
difusisima  y  redundantisima'."  The  dialogue  ends  with  mocking  remarks 
on  the  diction  of  Sedano  and  on  the  many  absurdities  contained  in  the 
"Parnaso  Espaiiol." 

Iriarte's  Literary  Fables. — But  after  all  these  matters,  except  in  so 
far  as  they  deal  with  the  "Jahel,"  do  not  directly  concern  us.  Let  us 
pass  to  that  part  of  Iriarte's  work  which  bears  most  clearly  the  stamp 
of  his  genius,  namely  his  fables. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  "Fabulas  Literarias"  constitute  a  complete 
art  of  poetry.  This  statement  is  of  course  an  exaggeration  but  the  fact 
remains  that  the  most  important  points  of  the  neo-classic  system  are 
discussed  in  the  fables,  which  at  the  same  time  allude  to  the  more  salient 
facts  of  the  neo-classic  quarrel  in  Spain  during  the  eigheenth  century. 

In  his  first  fable  Iriarte  represents  the  elephant  speaking  to  his  sub- 
jects about  sundry  censurable  practices  which  are  going  on  among  them. 
Those  among  his  listeners  who  have  committed  no  faults  listen  with 
equanimity,  but  the  tiger,  the  wolf,  the  snake,  the  fox,  the  whole  tribe 
of  the  brutal  or  the  perverse,  either  leave  in  anger  or  sneer  at  the 
speaker,  who  concludes  with  these  words : 

"A  todos  y  a  ninguno 
Mis  advertencias  tocan ; 
Ouien  las  siente  se  culpa : 
El  que  no  que  las  oiga." 

Iriarte  taking  the  floor  after  the  last  words  of  the  elephant,  con- 
cludes by  assuring  his  reader  that  there  will  be  no  direct  attack  either 
against  specific  times  or  against  individuals  in  the  fables  which  are  to 
follow : 

"Quien  haga  aplicaciones 
Con  su  pan  se  lo  coma." 

We  shall  see  later  that  Iriarte  does  not  keep  absolutely  his  promise 
of  dealing  impersonally  with  generalities  but  the  fact  remains  that  many 
of  his  fables  teach  such  very  general  truths  that  it  is  sometimes  difficult 
to  connect  them  even  distantly  with  the  neo-classic  system.  To  this  type 
belongs  the  story  of  the  drones  who,  ashamed  of  their  idleness,  organize 
a  fine  funeral  ceremony  for  a  queen  bee  long  since  dead,  thus  rivaling 
those  writers  who,  unable  to  write  themselves,  impotently  praise  the 
great  men  of  the  past.  The  value  of  pompous  silence  is  illustrated  by 
the  apologue  of  the  Httle  bell  which  by  being  tolled  only  on  great  oc- 
casions won  for  itself  as  much  respect  as  its  mighty  sister  in  the  belfry 
of  the  cathedral  whose  function  it  was  to  usher  in  only  important  feast 
days.    Again  there  is  nothing  strictly  neo-classical  in  the  fable  attacking 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG  MIDDLE  CLASS  HI 

the  writers  who  style  themselves  such  because  of  a  few  prefaces  com- 
posed about  the  works  of  others  nor  in  the  one  in  which  the  duck  is 
made  to  boast  of  his  three  modes  of  locomotion  only  to  be  sharply  re- 
minded by  the  snake  that  he  excels  in  none. 

These  and  many  others  illustrating  the  influence  of  nationality  and 
friendship  in  criticism,  the  errors  of  hyper-criticism,  the  incompatibiUty 
of  venality  wath  true  talent  are  indeed  so  self-evident  and  so  general  in 
the  conclusions  to  which  they  point,  that  Iriarte's  enemies  did  not  fail 
to  make  use  of  them  to  brand  the  whole  collection  of  fables  as  altogether 
futile  and  platitudinous. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  of  Iriarte's  apologues  are  so  distinctly  neo- 
classical in  the  truth  they  wish  to  teach  that  passages  paralleling  them 
can  be  found  in  regular  neo-classic  treatises.  The  fable  of  the  hired 
mule  which  starts  at  a  rapid  pace  but  soon  becomes  exhausted  and  being 
urged  by  its  rider  tumbles  ignominiously  to  the  ground  contains  the  well 
known  warning  of  Boileau  against  high  sounding  beginnings : 

"N'allez  pas  des  I'abord  sur  Pegase  monte 
Crier  a  vos  lecteurs  d'une  voix  de  tonnerre 
Je  chante  le  vainqueur  des  vainqueurs  de  la  terre." 

Such  a  boisterous  start  bears  the  promise  of  a  humiliating  fall.  Iriarte 
sounds  the  same  note  of  warning,  and  for  the  sake  of  those  who  might 
not  have  grasped  the  allegorical  meaning  of  the  mule  and  its  fall,  he 
adds: 

"Despues  de  este  lance  en  viendo 

Que  un  autor  ha  principiado 

Con  altisonante  estruendo 

Al  punto  digo :    ';  Cuidado  !' 

i  Tente  hombre !  que  te  has  de  ver 

En  el  vergonzoso  estado 

De  la  mula  de  alquiler." 

Nearly  the  same  idea  recurs  in  the  fable  of  the  dog  who  gave  up 
a  spit-wheel  for  a  water-wheel  hoping  thus  to  obtain  greater  glory  and 
more  food. 

"Lo  mismo  he  leido  yo 
En  un  tal  Horacio  Flacco 
Que  a  un  autor  da  por  gran  yerro 
Cargar  con  lo  que  despues 
No  podra  llevar ;  esto  es 
Que  no  ande  la  noria  el  perro." 

There  is  no  treatise  on  the  rules  which  does  not  urge  the  author  to 
keep  before  his  mind  some  useful  purpose  which  will  give  his  work  a 
"raison  d'etre."  Iriarte  preaches  this  dogma  by  means  of  his  lively  tale 


112  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

dealing  with  the  squirrel  and  the  colt.  The  rodent  makes  a  loud  boast 
about  his  nimbleness,  giving  to  understand  that  he  is  superior  to  the 
colt.  The  latter  who  is  being  put  through  his  paces  stops  just  long 
enough  to  remark  that  his  activity  is  of  service  to  his  master  whereas 
the  gyrations  of  the  squirrel  benefit  no  one. 

"Conque  algunos  escritores 
Ardillas  tambien  seran 
Si  en  obras  frivolas  gastan 
Todo  el  calor  natural." 

That  perfection  in  art  is  attained  only  when  the  useful  and  the  agree- 
able are  made  to  mingle  goes  back  of  course  to  Horace.  Iriarte's  version 
of  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  fable  which  describes  the  sad  predicament  of  a 
gardener  whose  duty  it  was  to  water  some  flowers  from  a  basin  in  which 
lived  some  trout  and  in  which  there  was  so  little  water  that  drawing 
any  from  it  endangered  the  life  of  the  fish.  The  master  wanted  the  beauty 
of  the  blossoms  and  the  prospect  of  a  good  meal.  Iriarte  does  not  tell  us 
how  the  poor  gardener  avoided  the  horns  of  his  dilemma  but  he  concludes 
bravely  with  these  words  : 

"La  Maxima  es  trillada 
Mas  repetirse  debe. 
Si  al  pleno  acierto  aspiras 
Une  la  utilidad  con  el  deleite." 

This  exhausts  the  unconditionally  neo-classic  teachings  of  the  Fables. 
A  large  number  of  them  refer  to  conditions  and  ideas  peculiar  to  Spain. 
For  instance  the  principle,  old  as  the  "Arte  Nuevo  de  hacer  comedias," 
that  the  common  people  are  to  be  the  final  judges,  receives  many  a  blow.  A 
trained  bear  after  performing  an  awkward  step  asked  the  monkey  what 
he  thought  of  it.  "Yours  was  a  wretched  performance,"  replies  the 
monkey,  but  the  hog,  who  was  overhearing  this  conversation,  bursts  into 
noisy  praise  of  the  bear's  gracefulness.  The  latter,  who  was  about  to  take 
offense  at  the  frankness  of  the  monkey,  now  takes  thought  unto  himself 
and  concludes : 

"Cuando  me  desaprobaba 

La  mona  llegue  a  dudar, 

Mas  ya  que  el  cerdo  me  alaba 

Muy  mal  debo  de  bailar. 

Guarde  para  su  regalo 

Esta  sentencia  un  autor 

Si  el  sabio  no  aprueba  j  malo ! 

Si  el  necio  aplaude  i  peor !" 

This  very  same  idea,  which  is  at  once  a  refutation  of  Lope's  principle 
and  an  attack  on  Ramon  de  la  Cruz,  is  to  be  found  also  in  the  apologue 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG  MIDDLE  CLASS  113 

of  the  donkey  which  was  fed  entirely  on  straw.  "He  eats  it  with  relish," 
said  the  master  to  excuse  himself.  "Give  me  grain,"  replied  the  abused 
quadruped,  "and  you  will  see  whether  I  eat  it  or  not." 

"Sepa  quien  para  el  publico  trabaja 
Que  tal  vez  a  la  plebe  culpa  en  vano 
Pues  si  en  dandole  paja  come  paja 
Siempre  que  la  dan  grano  come  grano." 

"El  burro  flautista,"  who  by  accident  blows  into  a  flute  in  such  a  way 
as  to  give  a  harmonious  sound,  the  apologue  of  the  flint  and  the  steel,  the 
one  about  the  tight-rope  walker,  who  discarded  his  balancing  pole,  a  fable 
made  popular  in  France  by  Florian,  all  are  meant  to  prove  that  natural 
talent  without  diligent  application  and  knowledge  of  the  rules  is  of  no 
avail ;  this  again  is  an  attack  against  the  school  of  Lope. 

Gongorism  is  condemned  in  the  rather  long  drawn  out  story  of  the 
monkey  who  tried  to  exhibit  stereopticon  views  without  having  thought  of 
lighting  the  lantern : 

"iOs  puedo  yo  decir  con  mejor  modo 
Que  sin  la  claridad  os  falta  todo  ?" 

Likewise  the  neo-classic  pedants,  the  bad  critics,  the  writers  of 
gallicized  Castilian,  all  are  dealt  with  in  one  or  more  apologues. 

A  few  fables,  in  spite  of  the  promise  twice  repeated  in  the  first  one 
of  the  series,  are  either  defenses  of  the  author  or  personal  attacks  against 
his  enemies.  When  the  turkey  instead  of  flying  a  race  with  the  crow,  as 
he  had  agreed  to  do,  calls  his  opponent  a  black  and  disgusting  carrion 
feeder,  Iriarte  concludes : 

"Cuando  en  las  obras  del  sabio 
No  encuentra  defectos 
Contra  la  persona  cargos 
Suela  hacer  el  necio." 

and  the  reader  can  not  but  recall  the  many  literary  quarrels  of  the  fabu- 
list which  ended  so  often  in  the  basest  personal  insults.  In  the  XXXIXth 
fable  Iriarte's  intention  is  to  reach  Valdes  who,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
critic,  made  too  great  a  use  of  archaic  terms.*  The  fable  emphasizing  the 
need  of  relentless  criticism,  from  time  to  time,  may  be  an  attempt  at  self- 
justification  for  the  author's  treatment  of  Garcia  de  la  Huerta,  the  brilliant 
and  unfortunate  author  of  the  "Raquel,"  who  died  while  still  young  be- 
cause of  the  combination  of  governmental  persecutions  and  the  satires  of 
Moratin,  Iriarte  and  their  group. 

Such  is  the  subject  matter  of  the  fables  of  Iriarte.    By  the  cleverness 
of  the  dialogues,  the  neatness  of  the  expressions  and  the  pleasant  variety 
-  s 


114  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

of  the  rhythms  employed  they  have  won  for  their  author  a  fame  as  wide- 
spread as  it  is  well  deserved.* 

Following  close  upon  the  publication  of  the  fables,  came  the  brutal 
and  unwarranted  onslaught  of  Forner,  together  with  the  less  blame- 
worthy but  equally  unfair  attack  by  the  fabulist  Samaniego  in  dealing 
with  whom  Iriarte  had  not  been  sufficiently  prudent.*  As  in  the  case  of 
the  quarrel  with  Sedano,  the  best  we  can  do  is  to  pass  rapidly  over  these 
events  which  do  not  belong  clearly  to  our  field  of  study.  Samaniego  had 
a  purely  French  education,  his  attack  on  Iriarte  was  the  result  of  personal 
pique,  and  as  for  Forner,  in  whom  Menendez  y  Pelayo  would  see  a  fear- 
less defender  of  the  purely  Spanish  ideals,  it  is  but  too  clear,  after  the 
study  of  these  quarrels  made  by  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  that  he  was  a  barefaced 
opportunist,  a  kind  of  literary  "spadassin,"  a  man  ready  to  strike  any  one 
at  any  time  if  there  was  any  promise  in  these  blows  of  either  personal 
advancement  or  the  satisfaction  of  envy.  The  man  who  attacked  at  once 
Iriarte,  Garcia  de  la  Huerta,  Triego,  and  Valdes  can  not  for  a  moment  be 
thought  to  have  been  a  person  of  character  and  with  an  honest  purpose. 
Neither  "El  Asno  Erudito"  nor  the  libel  entitled  "Los  Gramaticos — his- 
toria  chinesca"  can  be  considered  for  a  moment  as  fair  representatives  of 
the  spirit  of  loyal  opposition  to  the  neo-classic  attitude  of  mind  and  there- 
fore they  have  no  place  in  this  study. 

Iriarte  s  Plays. — The  honor  of  producing  the  first  successful  regular 
play  was  to  fall  to  Iriarte.  In  1788  he  gave  to  the  public  his  comedy  en- 
titled "El  Sefiorito  Mimado."  In  a  letter  addressed  to  Enrique  Ramos,  dated 
1779,  Iriarte  stated  that  he  had  completely  given  up  going  to  the  theatre. 
"Esta  diversion  me  esta  rigurosamente  prohibida  por  la  religion  de 
Horacio  que  profeso  .  .  .  no  se  necesita  ir  a  la  luneta  con  peligro  de  que 
se  me  acede  la  comida."  .  .  .  His  religion  of  Horace  caused  him  to 
create  the  character  of  "El  Seiiorito  Mimado"  and  the  play  bearing  such  a 
title  succeeded  before  the  Madrid  public  in  spite  of  its  rigorous  observ- 
ance of  the  unities,  its  clearly  discernible  moral  purpose,  its  comparative 
simplicity  of  plot  and  the  qualities  of  verisimilitude  illustrated  in  the  de- 
lineation of  its  characters. 

The  play  had  the  good  fortune  of  being  represented  by  able  actors 
at  the  theatre  of  "La  Cruz"  and  Iriarte  scored  a  complete  success. 

Having  shown  the  need  of  discipline  in  a  young  man's  education, 
Iriarte  undertook  to  write  a  play  which  would  be  a  criticism  of  a  young 
girl  whose  home  training  had  been  deficient.  Through  the  lack  of  dis- 
cipline in  her  bringing  up,  she  becomes  involved  in  a  love  affair  with  a 
rascal ;  her  punishment  comes  about  when  she  is  made  to  recognize  the 
true  character  of  her  lover. 


SPREAD  OF  NEO-CLASSIC  DOCTRINES  AMONG  MIDDLE  CLASS  115 

This  comedy,  like  its  predecessor,  met  with  the  hearty  approval  of 
the  critics  but  it  had  the  misfortune  of  being  entrusted  to  the  company 
of  "El  Principe,"  and  the  hostility  of  the  mob  together  with  the  lack  of 
skill  or  the  ill-will  of  the  actors  caused  the  partial  failure  of  the  play.  It 
lasted  but  a  few  days  among  the  jeers  and  stormy  interruptions  of  the 
mob  and  then  its  place  was  taken  by  "  *E1  buen  hijo,'  'Aragon  restaurado,' 
'La  Toma  de  Milan,'  y  otros  monstruos  y  delirios  dictados  por  la  bar- 
barie." 

This  comedy  was  the  last  widely  known  play  of  Iriarte,  who  died  the 
next  year  without  having  been  able  to  publish  his  comedy  "El  Don  de 
Gentes,"  in  which  was  depicted  the  character  of  a  perfect  young  woman. 
The  "zarzuela"  which  was  to  follow  the  comedy,  anticipated  L.F.de  Mora- 
tin's  "Don  Eleuterio"  in  the  person  of  the  "Licenciado"  who  had  com- 
posed a  tragedy,  the  title  of  which,  quoted  by  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  is  worth 
quoting  again.    It  runs  thus  : 

Leucomelania 
la  blanca  del  cuerpo  negro 
reina  de  Monomotapa, 
por  otro  titulo  :     "Honor 
amor,  valor,  y  venganza ; 
vivir  muerta  y  morir  viva 
y  escandalo  de  la  Arabia." 
Vale  el  titulo  una  escena. 

By  his  solid  scholarship,  by  his  sound  judgment  and  by  his  clearness 
of  thought,  Tomas  de  Iriarte  did  more  than  any  other  man  of  his  group 
to  give  neo-classicism  a  firm  foundation  in  Spain.  He  gave  to  the  party 
of  regularity  the  authority  which  the  more  brilliant  but  less  reliable  qual- 
ities of  Moratin  and  Cadalso  had  supplied  insufficiently.  The  thorough- 
ness of  his  scholarship  proved  to  be  an  antidote  to  the  weakening  of  the 
shallow  criticism  of  journalists.  Iriarte  was  the  best  representative  of 
the  rules  since  Luzan  and  he  prepared  royally  the  road  on  which  Moratin 
the  younger  was  to  triumph. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  V. 

p.  96.  Clavijo  y  Fajardo  was  born  in  1730;  he  died  in  1806.  Beside  being 
editor  of  "El  Pensador"  he  directed  the  publication  of  the  "Mercurio  de  Madrid." 
From  1785-1790  he  translated  Buffon's  works.  He  is  remembered  especially  for  his 
shameful  conduct  toward  Beaumarchais's  sister.  Beaumarchais's  "Eugenie"  and 
Goethe's  "Clavijo"  are  based  on  this  episode. 

P.  98.  Bourgoing.  Nouv.  Voyage,  v.  I,  p.  230.  Describes  one  of  these, 
"Le  Theatre  du  Buen  Retire  est  encore  parfaitement  conserve;    la  salle  est  petite 


116  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

mais  dessinee  avec  art.  Le  Theatre  qui  est  vaste  s'ouvre  dans  le  fond  sur  les 
jardins  du  Palais  avec  lesquels  il  est  de  niveau,  ce  qui  favorisait  souvent  la  magie 
theatrale,  en  etendant  la  perspective  a  perte  de  vue,  en  permettant  le  deploiement 
de  corps  de  troupes  et  meme  quelques  fois  la  marche  de  la  cavalerie.  Toutes  ces 
illusions  se  sont  evanouies,  la  salle  est  deserte  .  .  ." 

P.  98.  A  list  of  French  plays  translated  into  Spanish  and  represented  on 
the  royal  stage  of  which  Clavijo  was  director  is  given  by  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  pp.  69- 
70,  and  foot-notes. 

P.  100.  N.  F.  de  Moratin's  "Desengafios,"  etc.,  are  clearly  inspired  by  the  fore- 
word to  the  reader  in  Luzan's  "Poetica."  "Y  primeramente  te  advierto  que  no  des- 
estimes  como  novedad  las  reglas  .  .  .  te  aseguro  que  nada  tienen  que  esso ;  pues 
ha  mil  aiios  que  estas  mismas  reglas  (a  lo  menos  en  todo  lo  substancial  y  funda- 
mental) ya  estaban  escritas  por  Aristoteles  y  luego  successivemente  epilogadas  por 
Horacio,  comentadas  por  muchos  sabios  y  eruditos  Varones,  divulgadas  entre  todas 
las  naciones  cultas  y  generalmente  aprobadas  y  seguidas.  Mira,  si  tendras  razon 
para  decir,  que  son  opiniones  nuevas  las  que  peinan  tantas  canas.  Anade,  ahora 
que  en  la  practica  y  en  la  realidad  aun  les  puedo  dar  mas  antiguedad,  siendome 
muy  facil  de  probar,  que  todo  lo  que  se  funda  en  razon  es  tan  antiguo,  como  la 
razon  misma  y  siendo  esta  hija  del  discurso  humano  vendra  a  ser  con  poca  dis- 
tancia  su  coetanea." 

P.  103.  Eruditos  a  la  Violeta,  Supplemento  al  papel  intitulado,  etc.,  p.  115. 
Also,  V.  Ill,  p.  190.  "Ocios  de  mi  juventud.  Al  estilo  magnifico  de  Don  N.  F.  de 
Moratin  en  sus  composiciones  heroicas."  Again  v.  I.  Eruditos,  etc.,  p.  115. 
Cadalso  speaks  of  Moratin,  "a  quien  estimo  tanta  como  a  poeta  (y  no  a  la  violeta) 
como  quanto  a  amigo  (tampoco  a  la  violeta)." 

P.  113.  Juan  Melendez  Valdes,  1754-1817,  friend  of  Jovellanos  and  the  best 
lyric  poet  of  his  time,  head  of  the  so-called  "School  of  Salamanca." 

P.  114.  The  "Mercurio  Peruano" — published  by  the  "Sociedad  Academica  de 
Amantes  de  Lima,"  1791 — shows  how  widely  the  fame  of  the  fables  extended.  Its 
various  volumes  are  sprinkled  with  "Fabulas  Literarias,"  notably  v.  IV,  p.  59. 
"Contra  los  que  no  entienden  una  Obra,  critican  la  parte  que  la  hace  mas  re- 
comendable,"  p.  89.  "Contra  los  Escritores  que  aparentando  mucha  pompa  en  los 
frontispicios  de  sus  obras  no  desemperian  lo  que  prometen." 

P.  114.  Samaniego — Selections  by  Apraiz,  p.  57.  "Desde  que  el  gran  niimero 
de  obras  buenas  y  la  declinacion  del  mal  gusto  en  algunas  partes  de  la  Europa  han 
inspirado  a  tantos  escritores  el  proyecto  de  ser  leidos  a  fuerza  de  extravagancias  es 
preciso  confesar  que  nada  se  ha  imaginado  tan  raro  como  el  poner  en  fabulas  el 
Arte  Poetica  de  Horacio.  .  .  .  Esta  idea  es,  sobre  poco  mas  6  menos,  la  misma 
que  tuvo  aquel  buen  hombre,  que  quiso  poner  en  madrigales  la  Historia  Romana." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Leandro  Fernandez  de  Moratin.     His  Contribution  to  the  Neo- 
Classic  Movement.    His  Struggle  with  the  Illiterate 

Classes. 

While  Iriarte  was  still  in  his  prime,  the  man  who  was  to  continue 
his  work  and  that  of  the  literary  group  which  we  have  been  studying 
had  already  attracted  attention  by  a  piece  of  writing  dealing  with  neo- 
classic  criticism.  In  1782  Leandro  F.  de  Moratin  had  presented  his 
"Satire"  to  compete  for  the  prize  offered  by  the  Academy. 

The  Natiij-e  of  L.  F.  de  Moratin's  Thought. — It  may  be  well  at  this 
point  to  state  once  for  all  that  neither  in  this  work  nor  in  any  other  of 
this  author  are  we  to  find  any  new  or  original  forms  of  thought.  If  it 
was  true  that  the  elder  Moratin  could  not  have  added  any  new  principles 
to  those  expounded  by  Luzan  and  by  the  Academy  of  Good  Taste,  it 
was  still  more  true  of  his  son  who  came  at  a  moment  when  these  princi- 
ples had  just  been  stated  for  the  third  time.  This  inability  to  state  any- 
thing new  however  was  not  necessarily  a  source  of  weakness.  Of  the 
countless  commentators  of  Aristotle,  which  one  had  brought  any  new 
element  of  thought  to  the  close-knit  system  of  dramatic  rules  since  its 
first  detailed  discussions  by  Scaliger  and  by  Castelvetro?  Originality 
in  such  matters  consists  in  the  ability  to  state  the  well  worn  arguments 
in  a  way  vvhich  will  appeal  to  the  public  which  they  are  meant  to  reach. 
Luzan's  exposition  had  been  successful,  since  the  "Poetica"  had  awakened 
the  interest  of  scholars  in  such  matters;  N.  F.  de  Moratin,  Cadalso  and 
Iriarte  by  using  a  more  popular  form  had  created  among  the  middle 
class  a  strong  party  in  favor  of  the  rules.  The  true  glory  of  L.  F.  de 
Moratin  lies  in  the  fact  that  not  only  did  he  complete  the  conversion  of 
the  middle  class,  but  that  he  succeeded  in  bringing  to  terms,  at  least  for 
a  time,  the  very  unruly  third  estate  which  filled  the  "patio"  of  the  play- 
houses. 

Since  his  mission  was  to  restate  the  principles  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  others,  it  can  not  be  said  that  there  is  any  evolution  in 
Moratin's  thought.  The  principles  at  the  base  of  his  writings  had  been 
given  him  from  the  very  start;  he  received  them  unquestioningly ;  life 
and  success  could  not  make  him  a  firmer  believer  in  their  excellence.  At 
the  same  time,  just  as  his  predecessors  had  done,  he  did  not  permit 
poorly  informed  foreigners  to  criticize  the  masterpieces  of  Spanish  lit- 


118  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

erature.  From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  life,  he  urged  his  country- 
men along  lines  of  reason  and  good  sense  in  literary  matters  and  he  de- 
fended the  better  writers  of  his  country  against  foreign  criticism.  A 
sincere  faith  in  the  usefulness  of  his  mission  and  resourcefulness  in  his 
method  of  exposition  were  his  main  strength.  The  very  nature  of  the 
controversy  which  he  carried  on  to  a  successful  end  militated  against  any 
great  development  of  his  imagination,  and  his  writings  are  praiseworthy 
because  of  the  intellectual  poise  they  exhibit  and  because  of  their  sym- 
metry of  form,  but  they  lack  variety  of  theme. 

Moratin  cast  his  thought  in  five  different  moulds.  We  have  already 
referred  to  his  first  important  composition,  his  "Satire  against  the  vices 
introduced  into  Castilian  poetry"  presented  to  the  Spanish  Academy. 
A  survey  of  this  work  will  introduce  us  to  the  main  arguments  which 
Moratin  was  to  repeat  in  his  writings  dealing  with  literary  criticism.* 

Moratin  s  Satire. — The  satire  takes  the  form  of  a  long  discourse 
to  one  Fabius  who,  late  in  life  and  without  having  given  signs  of  literary 
ability,  begins  to  compose  verse.^^^  It  would  be  better  if  he  were  to  limit 
his  activities  to  the  handling  of  the  plough,  the  hoe  or  the  weeding  hook 
but  since  he  persists  in  his  mistaken  ambition  and  turns  yellow  with  rage 
at  these  introductory  words,  Moratin  is  going  to  show  him  how  he  may 
succeed  in  writing  something  and  he  is  going  to  describe  the  kind  of  com- 
positions which  are  sure  to  come  from  his  pen.^^'^ 

First  of  all,  by  dint  of  hard  work,  he  can  surely  write  verse  to  his 
Fills  or  to  his  Marfisa  describing  her  charms  in  Gongoristic  style.  He 
can  tell  her  that  her  indifference  is  a  snow  which  sets  his  heart  on  fire, 
that  her  forehead  is  a  resplendent  plain,  her  brows  a  curved  lute  or  sweet 
bows  piercing  him  with  cruel  arrows.  If  his  own  inventive  power  does 
not  suffice  to  describe  the  state  of  his  enamored  soul,  let  him  say  with 
Ouevedo  that  restless  it  swims  over  seas  of  ardent  and  pure  light  amidst 
a  curly  tempest  of  wavy  gold.^''^ 

It  may  be  that  the  fair  one  will  throw  all  these  beautiful  and  striking 
stanzas  out  of  the  window  but  such  an  act  on  her  part  will  only  serve  to 
give  abundant  opportunity  for  more  Gongorism  and  for  lengthy  appeals 
to  nymphs  and  shepherds. 

Let  not  his  ambition  stop  there,  however,  for  what  will  it  avail  him 
to  be  able  to  write  in  the  quiet  of  his  study  if  he  does  not  gain  skill  in 
expressing  himself  extemporaneously?  Let  him  pluck  up  courage  and 
heap  pun  on  pun,  extravagance  on  extravagance,  mingling  bitter  satire 

itia  L.  F.  de  M.,"  v.  IV,  p.  108. 
"OL.  F.  de  M.,  v.  IV,  p.  108. 
"1  L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  IV,  p.  108. 


LEANDRO   FERNANDEZ  DE   MORATIN  119 

with  it  all.  Such  nonsense  when  put  into  print  will  find  favor  with  the 
public  who  will  eagerly  buy  the  tomes  containing  it.^^^ 

There  are  still  other  ways  for  the  would-be  lyric  poet  to  insure  suc- 
cess. He  may  fall  back  on  the  rich  mine  of  the  mythological  figures 
of  speech,  he  may  turn  to  gallicized  syntax  or  revert  to  archaisms. 

The  epic  may  be  brought  into  his  field  as  easily  as  lyric  poetry.  To 
succeed  in  this  genre  let  him  break  all  narrow  rules  and,  filled  with 
srcred  fury,  let  his  initial  verses  be  so  altisonant  and  horrible  as  to  win 
immediately  the  attention  of  the  reader.  What  is  to  follow  may  be 
written  with  a  view  to  respecting  faithfully  historical  truth.  Let  there 
be  dates,  names  of  battles  and  plenty  of  them. 

Such  a  course,  however,  will  give  the  rage  of  critics  plenty  of 
material  on  which  to  satisfy  itself.  It  would  undoubtedly  be  safer  for 
the  writer  to  adopt  the  opposite  course  and  let  his  imagination  run  riot, 
to  have  heroic  deeds,  single  combats,  giants,  enchanted  armors,  the  whole 
of  history,  millions  of  episodes,  sorcerers,  magic  ointments,  all  the  subject 
matter  of  Ariosto  and  of  the  romances  of  chivalry  including  flying  char- 
iots taking  the  hero  the  w^orld  over.  Above  all,  do  not  forget  the  crystal 
globe  in  which  the  hero's  noble  descendants  appear,  thus  aflfording  the 
author  a  capital  chance  to  flatter  his  literary  patron.^®^ 

It  would  be  idle  to  hope  that  even  such  a  course  could  check  the  evil 
tongues  of  critics.  They  will  exclaim:  O!  deplorable  facility!  Reason  and 
taste  must  control  the  imagination  or  else  nothing  worth  while  can  be 
accomplished.  The  country's  reputation  suffers  from  such  irregularities. 
Spain  arrogantly  disdained  the  humble  simplicity  of  the  Greeks  and  of 
the  Latins.  She  gave  her  comedy  an  emphatic  and  obscure  style,  she 
disregarded  moral  teaching.  Spain's  plays  bring  together  on  the  stage 
all  social  classes  from  high  Church  dignitaries  to  buffoons ;  the  plots  dealt 
with  cover  centuries,  have  dozens  of  actions  and  carry  the  spectator  from 
Ghent  to  Florence  to  end  finally  in  the  sands  of  the  Sahara  or  amidst  the 
fumes  of  Hell. 

Thus  speaking  the  raging  critic  pounds  with  his  fists  and  leaves  his 
seat  in  an  outburst  of  anger.  "All  this,  Fabius,  is  pure  jealousy;  do  not 
heed  such  w^ords.  No  matter  what  critics  may  say,  you  are  assured  of 
fame  and  wealth  if  you  follow  my  methods.  Be  of  good  cheer.  Write 
forthwith  seven  comedies,  have  fifteen  printed,  plan  nineteen  more,  give 
your  venal  muse  no  rest.  What  the  critics  call  faults  are  qualities  which 
will  fill  your  purse  and  assure  you  a  place  on  high  Helicon." 

"Only,  Fabius,  when    Apollo  in  the  presence  of    the  nine    muses 


162  L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  IV,  p.  111. 
i«3  L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  IV,  p.  122. 


120  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

crowns  your  brow  with  his  sacred  hands,  remember  your  debt  to  me  who 
have  directed  your  steps  on  the  road  to  so  much  glory."  ^"^ 

From  this  synopsis  it  appears  that  the  "Satire"  contains  only  few 
ideas.  It  attacks  facility,  it  ridicules  obscurity  and  bad  taste  in  style,  it 
makes  a  plea  for  verisimilitude  in  the  facts  treated,  simplicity  in  action 
and  morality  in  purpose.  Variously  combined  and  illustrated,  these  six 
points  are  the  skeleton  of  the  poem.  These  same  points  are  the  founda- 
tion of  the  literary  arguments  met  with  in  the  "Comedia  Nueva,"  and 
in  the  "Discourse  on  the  Origins  of  the  Drama  in  Spain."  With  additions 
inspired  by  the  writings  of  Samuel  Johnson,  they  form  the  subject  matter 
of  the  notes  to  the  translation  of  Hamlet.*  They  also  appear,  in  part,  in 
his  comedies  not  dealing  exclusively  with  criticism  and  the  "Derrota  de 
los  Pedantes"  is  an  attack  against  uncontrolled  facility  in  writing. 

Before  undertaking  the  work  just  mentioned,  Moratin  had  composed 
his  comedy  entitled  "El  Viejo  y  la  Nina."  He  tried  in  1786  to  have  the 
play  staged  but  at  that  time  "el  Seiiorito  Mimado"  had  not  yet  been  rep- 
resented, and  the  younger  author  discovered  that  his  efforts,  unaided, 
were  not  sufficient  to  overcome  the  old  prejudices  against  neo-classic 
compositions.  In  none  of  the  Madrid  theatres  could  he  find  capable 
actors  willing  to  introduce  a  play  so  uneventful  in  plot  and  so  simple  in 
diction.  Furthermore  he  was  unable  to  obtain  the  necessary  permission 
from  the  government.  There  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  but  turn  once 
more  to  the  field  of  criticism,  since  the  times  were  not  yet  ripe  for  suc- 
cessful presentation  of  regular  plays.  This  disappointment  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  writing  of  the  "Derrota  de  los  Pedantes." 

This  essay,  as  we  stated  above,  was  meant  to  ridicule  especially  that 
deplorable  facility  in  turning  out  large  amounts  of  either  prose  or  verse 
which  had  grown  enormously  in  a  country  where  the  rich  national  im- 
agination had  never  been  submitted  to  any  discipline. 

La  Derrota  de  los  Pedantes. — This  work,  by  its  setting,  reminds  one 
slightly  of  Boileau's  "Les  Heros  de  Roman."  As  French  novels  were 
castigated  under  the  fiction  of  a  rebellion  of  the  infernal  regions  against 
Pluto,  so  the  Spanish  author  lashes  the  too  prolific  writers  of  his  country 
by  having  them  attempt  to  storm  the  heights  of  Parnassus,  thus  com- 
pelling Apollo  to  use  force  to  repulse  the  unexpected  onslaught. 

An  innumerable  army  composed  of  bad  poets,  bad  critics,  and,  worst 
of  all,  of  writers  of  bad  plays,  has  in  spite  of  Luzan's  efforts  swarmed 
into  the  court  of  Apollo's  palace. ^°^  They  are  actually  doing  battle  with 
the  elect  of  Parnassus  who  have  been  taken  completely  by  surprise. 
Apollo  is  aroused  in  all  haste  from  his  midday  nap  and  Mercury  tells 

i«*  L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  IV,  pp.  125-134. 
165  L.  F.  de  M..  V.  IV,  p.  8. 


LEANDRO  FERNANDEZ  DE   MORATIN  121 

him  that  the  rage  of  the  mob  comes  from  the  fact  that  each  one  of  its 
members  wants  the  honor  of  being  chosen  to  sing  the  glories  to  come 
of  the  incipient  reign  of  Charles  IV. 

To  obtain  more  accurate  information  about  the  nature  of  the  dis- 
turbance, Mercury  flies  over  the  mob  of  fighting  authors,  picks  one  up 
at  random  and  after  a  swift  flight  upwards  locks  him  up  in  a  small  gar- 
ret. Returning  soon  with  orders  from  Apollo,  Mercury  finds  that  his 
wretched  prisoner  has  already  composed  two  pastoral  poems,  a  madrigal 
and  three  sonnets,  so  much  verse  being  needed  to  express  his  dismay  at 
his  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  messenger  of  the  gods. 

The  captive  poet  is  soon  brought  into  the  presence  of  Apollo.  He 
forthwith  sets  himself  to  relating  with  pride  that  he  is  the  author  of 
twenty-three  comedies,  nine  "fellas,"  five  tragedies,  two  "loas,"  fifty  "say- 
netes,"  four  hundred  sonnets  and  three  epic  poems  which  are  in  themselves 
complete  encyclopedias.  He  adds  that  he  has  annotated  Gongora  and 
translated  Huerta's  prologue.^*'^ 

Apollo,  enraged  by  such  tiresome  glibness,  orders  that  the  poet  be 
thrown  into  Tartarus.  The  nine  muses,  always  tender-hearted,  do  their 
best  to  pacify  their  angry  ruler  and  this  gives  their  protege  the  necessary 
time  to  compose  a  poem  intended  to  placate  Tesifone,  the  least  ill- 
favored  of  the  Furies.  Temporarily  pacified,  Apollo  orders  him  to  state 
what  he  expects  to  receive  from  him.  The  poet,  after  making  a  state- 
ment concerning  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  members  of  his  profes- 
sion w^ho,  in  spite  of  their  immense  productivity,  are  allowed  to  starve, 
begs  the  god  to  grant  him  a  manner  of  diploma  of  poetic  efficiency 
which  may  once  for  all  protect  him  and  his  compeers  against  the  envious 
attacks  of  critics.  Such  a  request  does  not  fail  to  arouse  Apollo's  ire 
again.  He  deplores  loudly  the  state  of  affairs  in  Spain  where  the  ig- 
norant are  forever  writing  while  the  learned  and  the  wise  remain  inactive, 
where  all  things  foreign  are  scorned  with  the  exception  of  bad  books 
which  find  eager  translators. 

After  this  attack  on  the  evils  of  the  day,  the  god  speaks  regretfully 
of  the  Golden  Age  and  of  its  great  authors,  ending  his  tirade  with  a 
statement  to  the  effect  that  these  men  who  have  just  attempted  to  storm 
Parnassus  are  in  no  way  qualified  to  sing  the  nation's  hopes  at  the  cor- 
onation of  a  new  ruler.  Let  them  be  gone  and  if  they  wish  for  mercy 
after  such  a  show  of  impudence,  let  them  be  silent,  silent  forevermore. 

The  spokesman  of  the  pedants  is  hurled  back  to  his  own  party  and 
Apollo  harangues  the  unruly  company.  The  gist  of  his  discourse  is  that 
men  are  in  duty  bound  to  work;  tliat  few  are  chosen  who  may  attain 


i«6L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  IV,  p.  19. 


122  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

knowledge.     Let  them  go  back  to  their  affairs  and   under  no  circum- 
stance lay  hand  to  pen  or  book. 

Far  from  taking  such  sound  advice  in  a  spirit  of  meekness,  the 
pedants  became  infuriated  and  compel  the  gods  to  take  violent  measures 
of  repression. 

Helped  by  Mendoza,  Garcilaso,  and  all  the  other  elects  among  Spanish 
authors,  the  ruler  of  Parnassus  succeeds  in  driving  back  the  incapable 
writers  by  hurling  at  them  huge  tomes  of  writings  as  wretched  as  their 
own.  A  lull  occurs  in  the  battle  and  Mercury  takes  that  opportunity 
to  advise  the  already  weakened  rebels  to  elect  a  few  spokesmen  who  will 
carry  on  such  negotiations  as  may  be  wise. 

This  proposition  is  only  a  trick  on  the  part  of  the  wily  messenger 
of  the  gods  for,  no  sooner  have  the  poets  proceeded  to  hold  some  form 
of  election  than  they  come  to  blows.  Each  pedant  wants  to  be  elected. 
Confusion  is  made  complete  by  internal  strife,  and  new  volleys  of  mis- 
siles are  showered  from  the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  Not  books  this  time, 
but  tables,  chairs,  streams  of  hot  water  scatter  the  invaders  once  for  all. 
Of  the  few  who  are  made  prisoners,  some  are  set  free  but  most  of  them 
are  found  to  be  so  incurably  insane  that  they  have  to  be  locked  up  in 
cages  where  they  are  to  remain  naked  and  wretched. ^''^ 

In  1790,  the  year  following  the  publication  of  the  "Derrota,"  Moratin 
made  one  more  effort  to  have  his  first  comedy  represented  and  this  time 
the  gates  which  Iriarte  had  forced  open  two  years  before  allowed  Mora- 
tin's  comedy  to  pass  through.  In  the  preface  of  the  play,^*^®  the  author 
tells  us  that  four  years  after  his  first  attempt  and  subsequent  failure 
the  censors  could  find  only  matter  for  praise  in  his  comedy.  They  ap- 
plauded its  moral  purpose,  the  regularity  of  its  plot,  the  realistic  render- 
ing of  the  characters,  its  style  of  versification,  everying  in  short. 

The  play  was  given  on  the  22d  of  May,  1790,  and  the  public  received 
it  graciously. 

This  success  scored  by  Moratin  did  not  mean  however  that  the 
struggle  for  the  recognition  of  neo-classicism  had  resulted  in  a  final 
victory  for  the  reforming  party.  Though  the  resistance  of  the  middle 
class  had  practicall)^  ceased,  the  fate  of  plays  still  lay  in  the  hands  of  the 
opposition,  for  no  censor's  Hcense  could  protect  a  work  against  the  whims 
of  the  majority  of  the  public,  that  is  to  say  against  the  common  people 
who  filled  the  pit  and  were,  after  all,  the  only  serious  financial  backers 
of  the  Spanish  theatres  in  the  eighteenth  century.^^®  We  saw  how  "La 
Senorita  mal  criada"  had  fallen  before  those  plebeian  judges  who,  with 

167  L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  IV,  p.  32. 

i«8L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  II,  pp.  4  flf. 

i«»L.  F.  de  M.,  Prologue  to  v.  II,  p.  xiii. 


LEANDRO  FERNANDEZ  DE   MORATIN  123 

much  more  reason,  had  brought  about  the  downfall  of  the  plays  attempt- 
ed by  N.  F.  de  Moratin  and  by  Cadalso.* 

Mob  Rule  and  the  Stage. — These  relentless  foes  of  neo-classicism 
had  been  established  in  their  noisy  and  destructive  prerogatives  by  long- 
years  of  undisputed  control  over  theatrical  matters.  Two  hundred 
years  of  adulation  by  playwrights  had  made  them  firm  believers  in  the 
soundness  of  their  own  literary  judgment.  To  quote  L.  F.  de  Moratin, 
"Genius  and  no  rules"  ^""^  had  become  their  motto  and  we  know  to  what 
form  of  intellectual  depravity  they  had  come  to  apply  the  term  genius.* 

We  have  seen  at  the  beginning  of  this  study  that  the  court  of  Philip 
V  had  had  no  influence  on  the  Spanish  stage  and  we  must  remember  that 
the  reign  of  Philip  V  lasted  nearly  half  a  century.  Ferdinand  VI  did  have  a 
playhouse  at  court  but  it  had  been  devoted  entirely  to  the  presentation  of 
elaborate  operas  performed  by  Italians. 

It  is  true  that  at  various  times  under  Philip  V  attempts  had  been 
made  to  improve  the  material  conditions  of  the  stage  in  Madrid.  In  1738 
Elizabeth  Farnese  had  directed  that  the  playhouse  called  "De  los  Cafios 
del  Peral"  should  be  redecorated.  In  1743  and  1745  some  improvements 
had  been  made  to  the  theatre  of  '*La  Cruz"  and  to  that  of  "El  Principe." 
Such  slight  material  improvements  in  no  way  affected  the  kind  of  plays 
staged  and  the  buildings  continued  to  be  rather  crude  affairs  consisting 
of  a  stage  in  an  open  court  surrounded  by  wooden  galleries  so  located 
as  to  leave  an  ample  pit.^^^ 

We  have  already  seen  how,  under  Charles  III,  Aranda  had  instituted 
reforms  of  a  more  serious  character.  Thanks  to  his  patronage,  plays 
that  were  not  purely  Spanish  in  character  had  been  performed  in  spite  of 
popular  opposition.  Finally  opposition  had  weakened  and  a  time  had 
come  when  the  Madrid  mob  was  fairly  willing  to  hear  either  translation'^ 
of  neo-classic  plays  or  neo-classic  adaptations  of  old  Spanish  "comedias." 
This  unprecedented  graciousness  on  the  part  of  the  mob  was  only  skin- 
deep.  We  saw  that  Iriarte's  second  play  fell  because  it  did  not  satis f}1 
the  dramatic  ideals  of  the  audience  in  the  "patio."  Tricgo*  and  \''aldes, 
as  formerly  the  elder  Moratin  and  Cadalso,  were  condemned  by  the  same 
judges.  After  Aranda,  as  before  his  day,  the  mob  held  the  fate  of  plays 
in  its  hands.  At  times,  as  in  the  case  of  the  "Hormesinda,"  it  displayed  a 
great  deal  of  good  sense  while  more  often  its  judgments  arose  directly 
from  ignorance  or  from  national  prejudice.  In  spite  of  the  growing 
willingness  of  censors  to  grant  printing  and  playing  permits,  the  "Chor- 
izos"  at  the  "Principe"  and  "Polacos"  at  the  "Cruz"  still  held  the  future 


170  L.  F.  de  M.,  v.  II,  p.  xiv. 
"1  L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  II,  p.  xiii. 


124  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

of  all  plays  in  their  power.  They  were  more  lenient  to  be  sure  than  they 
had  been  before  the  days  of  Aranda  but  the  fact  remained  that  they 
still  were  the  only  all-powerful  authority  on  matters  of  dramatic  excel- 
lence. That  power  could  not  be  wrested  from  them  since,  as  we  have 
already  remarked,  the  financial  success  of  theatrical  companies  depended 
on  them  alone.  What  could  be  done  was  to  attempt  to  educate  them  just 
as  their  social  betters  had  been  educated.  Moratin,  with  keen  insight 
into  the  nature  of  the  conditions  surrounding  the  stage,  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  satire,  couched  in  language  easily  understood  by  the  people 
and  so  illustrated  as  to  reach  the  popular  imagination,  could  do  a  great 
deal  towards  undermining  the  popularity  of  the  Comedia.  After  his  first 
theatrical  success,  Moratin  came  to  realize  that  the  writing  of  more  di- 
dactic or  satirical  verse  was  the  veriest  carrying  of  coals  to  Newcastle. 
He  saw  clearly  that  what  could  be  obtained  from  the  middle  class  of 
Spanish  society  was  already  obtained  and  that  the  urgent  problem  before 
him  was  the  more  complete  conversion  of  the  pit  which  had  already  fallen 
away  from  patronizing  plays  of  an  exclusively  Spanish  character.* 

L.  F.  de  Moratin's  La  Comedia  Nueva. — It  was  to  attain  this  pur- 
pose that  Moratin  composed  his  ''Comedia  Nueva,"  ^''^  which  is  a  sweep- 
ing condemnation  of  the  Comedia,  not  of  course  in  its  best  form,  but 
conceived  as  it  was  by  the  weak  imitators  of  Lope  and  Calderon.  The 
author  states  in  his  preface  to  the  Parma  edition  that  "The  Siege  of  Vi- 
enna," the  play  under  fire,  does  not  represent  any  one  particular  "comedia." 
It  is  a  symbol  of  all  bad  comedies  of  the  day  containing  the  faults  in 
taste  and  common  sense  that  were  current  in  the  new  compositions  pre- 
sented to  the  public. 

D.  Antonio  in  his  conversation  with  Pipi  tells  us  at  the  very  start 
that  the  comedy  to  be  presented  that  day  has  not  any  connection  with 
the  rules.  Soon  Don  Pedro  enters.  His  attitude  of  "bon  bourru,"  his  un- 
compromising stand  on  the  question  of  telling  the  truth,  establishes  him 
once  for  all  as  the  man  of  the  play  whose  judgments  are  going  to  count 
and  whose  character  is  above  suspicion.  He  is  a  strong  contrast  to  the 
sly  Don  Antonio  who,  for  the  sake  of  amusement,  is  willing  to  be  of 
everybody's  opinion. 

As  a  copy  of  the  play  which  is  to  be  given  in  a  little  while  is  at  hand, 
Don  Antonio  proceeds  to  read  snatches  from  the  first  act.  The  "Siege 
of  Vienna"  begins  by  a  pageant  in  which  appear  the  Emperor  Leopold, 
the  King  of  Poland  and  the  Seneschal  Frederic  followed  by  a  brilHant 
company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  whom  a  troop  of  mounted  hussars 
escort.    We  soon  learn  that  the  action  has  been  going  on  two  years  and 

1^3  L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  II,  p.  183.     The  Comedia  Nueva  begins  on  p.  188. 


LEANDRO  FERNANDEZ  DE  MORATIN  125 

a  half  and  that,  in  spite  of  the  brilliant  appearance  of  the  chiefs,  the 
population  is  in  a  state  of  starvation.  They  are  now  in  a  condition  where 
to  sustain  life,  rats,  toads  and  filthy  insects  have  to  be  eaten. ^'*  This 
most  indecorous  horror  is  brought  to  a  climax  when  the  lady  whom  the 
Vizir,  to  satisfy  his  thirst  for  vengeance,  has  deprived  of  food  for  six 
days,  appears  on  the  stage.  She  is  in  a  pitiful  state  of  emaciation  and 
she  dies  before  the  public  after  having  exposed  the  cruelty  of  her  perse- 
cutor in  no  measured  terms.  As  Don  Antonio  is  going  to  read  her  last 
speech,  giving  us  a  foretaste  of  its  virulence  by  his  ironical  exclama- 
tions, Don  Pedro,  about  to  stop  up  his  ears  with  his  hands,  begs  of  him 
to  desist.  Don  Antonio  respects  his  wish  for  the  moment  but  soon  starts 
again,  reading  this  time  the  final  verses  of  the  first  act  where  for  six 
lines  the  Emperor,  the  wicked  Vizir,  and  the  Seneschal  mingle  their  un- 
connected remarks.  The  first  two  recite  each  a  line  to  its  last  word 
exclusively,  waiting  for  the  completion  of  their  statement  until  the  third 
one  has  also  made  a  similar  incomplete  statement.  Then,  each  in  his 
turn  adds  his  final  word  and  the  following  three  lines  are  pronounced  by 
the  three  persons  simultaneously,  forming  a  kind  of  recited  chorus.^ '^ 

Don  Pedro  is  of  course  fairly  maddened  by  this  last  exhibition  of 
stupendous  nonsense  and  he  deeply  ofi:ends  the  author,  Don  Eleuterio, 
who  defends  himself  by  claiming  that  such  devices  are  employed  daily 
in  comedies  and  always  meet  with  the  approval  of  those  competent  to 
pass  judgment. 

A  very  unequal  literary  struggle  is  about  to  start  between  the  poor 
author  and  the  champion  of  taste  and  good  sense  when  a  diversion  is 
created  by  the  entrance  of  D.  Hermogenes.  This  person  is  also  a  critic, 
a  man  w^ho  knows  the  rules  and  who  has  read  much  but  he  is  the  type 
of  critic  whom  Moratin  had  in  mind  when  he  wrote  the  ''Derrota  de  los 
Pedantes."  He  is  a  man  who,  though  he  has  a  considerable  fund  of 
information,  lacks  judgment  and  good  faith. 

This  personification  of  the  ineffective  side  of  neo-classic  criticism 
is  appealed  to  by  Don  Pedro  and  by  the  author  to  pass  judgment  on  the 
merits  of  the  comedy  question. 

The  poor  pedant  is  now  in  hard  straits  for  he  knows  the  weakness 
of  the  play  but,  as  he  is  also  the  future  husband  of  the  author's  daughter, 
his  only  escape  out  of  the  difficulty  is  to  make  a  bewildering  show  of  his 
shallow  erudition.  He  shows  himself  to  be  one  of  the  late  eighteenth 
century  wits  whose  knowledge  was  drawn  from  encyclopedias,  and  who. 


"4  Com.  N.,  Act  I,  sc.  3. 

1^5  L.  F.  de  M.,  V.  II,  p.  213,  Act  I,  sc.  3.  Same  in  Lobo's  Dialogo  de  Elena 
y  Paris.  B.  A.  E.,  v.  LXI,  pp.  21  and  30,  but  Lobo's  dialogue  was  to  be  sung,  not 
recited. 


-4 


126  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

as  a  matter  of  fact,  believed  themselves  to  be  the  equals  of  the  French 
"philosophes"  and  "encyclopedistes." 

This  critic  "a  la  violeta"  launches  forth  on  an  Aristotelian  quotation 
in  Latin,  then  turns  to  Greek  for  the  sake  of  greater  clearness.  He  men- 
tions Scaligcr,  V^ossius,  Dacier  and  Heinsius,  and  an  interminable  list  of 
Greek  authors. ^^*^ 

When  he  has  exhausted  his  stock  of  proper  names  he  makes  the 
illuminating  statement  that  all  authors  agree  in  this ;  namely,  that  the 
protasis  must  precede  the  catastrophe.  This  argument,  reminding  one 
strongly  of  the  reasons  adduced  by  Sganarelle  ^' '  to  explain  the  dumb- 
ness of  his  young  patient,  is  topped  by  the  sudden  assertion  that  the 
comedy  of  D.  Eleuterio  is  an  excellent  one. 

Don  Pedro's  cup  is  filled  to  overflowing;  he  speaks  his  mind  with 
the  greatest  frankness  to  the  wretched  critic,  he  goes  from  the  room  in 
an  outburst  of  temper  and  leaves  his  two  victims  to  philosophize  on  the 
way  envy  thrives  by  the  side  of  success. 

The  beginning  of  the  second  act  gives  us  more  details  on  the  comedy 
entitled  "The  Siege  of  Vienna."  In  addition  to  the  fascinating  features 
mentioned  above,  the  play  has  an  episode  where  daggers  are  exchanged, 
another  where  the  Emperor  has  a  prophetic  dream  and  one  scene  repre- 
sents incantations  to  idols. 

This  second  act  is  in  the  spirit  of  "Les  Femmes  Savantes."  *  The 
author's  wife  has  literary  ambitions  and  her  heart  is  in  her  husband's 
work.  She  predicts  that  the  comedy  is  going  to  be  a  great  success ;  how 
could  it  be  otherwise,  are  there  not  nine  different  climaxes  offered  to  the 
public?  Are  there  not  represented  a  duel  on  horseback,  three  battles, 
two  tempests,  a  funeral  procession,  a  masked  ball,  the  burning  of  a  city, 
the  destruction  of  a  bridge  together  with  much  firing  of  guns?  There 
is  also  the  execution  of  a  criminal.  What  more  brilliant  spectacles  could 
be  imagined  and  how  could  the  people  be  otherwise  than  delighted  ?  "^ 

To  all  this  the  untutored  but  level-headed  daughter  of  the  authoi 
replies  that,  to  her  way  of  thinking,  such  a  play  ought  to  be  presented 
in  the  bull  ring. 

As  the  author  and  his  family  realize  suddenly  that  they  have  already 
missed  the  first  act  because  of  these  heated  discussions  they  hasten  away. 
Don  Pedro  and  Don  Antonio  reappear  on  the  stage.  The  scene  which 
follows,  the  fifth  of  the  second  act,  is  purely  and  simply  a  lecture  on  the 
faults  of  plays  which  do  not  conform  to  the  rules.    These  two  gentlemen 


i'^8  Comedia  Nueva,  Act  I,  sc.  5. 

1^''^  Le  Medecin  Malgre  Lui,  Act  II,  sc.  6. 

"8  Act  II,  sc.  1. 


LEANDRO  FERNANDEZ  DE   MORATIN  127 

discuss  the  first  act.^^^  They  know  that  Don  Eleuterio's  comedy  is  doomed 
and  the  conversation  in  which  they  engage,  except  for  the  dialogue  form, 
might  just  as  well  be  a  selection  from  the  "Derrota  de  los  Pedantes,"  or 
from  some  one  of  the  many  discourses  and  prefaces  of  jNIoratin.  While 
Don  Eleuterio  and  his  family  are  at  the  play  there  may  be  said  to  be  an 
interruption  in  the  real  comedy  during  which  a  discourse  on  neo-classic 
theories  is  delivered  to  the  audience. 

Don  Antonio  first  remarks  that  the  accumulation  of  stupidities  which 
it  has  been  their  lot  to  hear  is  more  amusing  than  annoying.  Don  Pedro, 
faithful  to  his  truth-loving  character,  consistently  blunt  and  frank,  starts 
on  a  speech  which  is  a  resume  of  all  Moratin  had  to  say  and  ever  did 
say  on  the  subject  of  the  irregular  drama.  Let  us  quote  him;  the  princi- 
ples are  not  new  but  they  are  stated  with  rigor  and  sincerity.  Even 
without  the  last  sentence  we  should  know  that  Don  Pedro,  besides  being 
an  intelligent  man,  is  a  patriotic  Spaniard. 

"No  Sefior,  menos  me  enfada  cualquiera  de  nuestras  comedias  an- 
tiguas,  por  malas  que  sean.  Estan  desarregladas,  tienen  disparates ;  pero 
aquellos  disparates  y  aquel  desarreglo  son  hijos  del  genio  y  no  de  la  estu- 
pidez.  Tienen  defectos  enormes  es  verdad,  pero  entre  estos  defectos  se 
hallan  cosas  que  por  vida  mia,  tal  vez  suspenden  y  conmueven  al  espec- 
tador  en  terminos  de  hacerle  olvidar  6  disculpar  cuantos  desaciertos  han 
precedido."  Don  Pedro  has  made  the  usual  defense  of  the  old  Spanish 
stage.  Now  he  turns  to  the  condemnation  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Comedia  as  represented  by  the  work  of  Don  Eleuterio.  "Ahi  no  hay  mas 
que  un  hacinamiento  confuso  de  especies,  una  accion  informe,  lances 
inverisimiles,  episodios  inconexos,  caracteres  mal  expresados  6  mal  esco- 
jidos;  en  vez  de  artificio,  embrollo;  en  vez  de  situaciones  comicas,  ma- 
marrachadas  de  linterna  magica.  No  hay  conocimiento  de  historia  ni  de 
costumbres,  no  hay  objeto  moral,  no  hay  lenguage,  ni  estilo,  ni  versifica- 
cion,  ni  gusto,  ni  sentido  comun.  En  suma  es  tan  mala  y  peor  que  las 
otras  con  que  nos  regalan  todos  los  dias."  To  these  statements  express- 
ing ideas  only  too  familiar  to  us,  Don  Antonio  replies  that  no  improve- 
ment is  to  be  hoped  for.  As  long  as  the  stage  continues  in  its  present 
state  of  abasement,  instead  of  being  the  mirror  of  virtue  and  the  temple 
of  good  taste,  it  will  continue  to  be  the  school  of  error  and  of  extrav- 
agance. 

By  his  next  speech  Don  Pedro  completes  this  "Poetica"'  destined  for 
the  common  people.  "Pero  no  es  fatalitad  que  despues  de  tanto  conio 
se  ha  escrito  por  los  hombres  mas  doctos  de  la  nacion  sobre  la  necesi- 


1^9  Don  Pedro  has  seen  the  performance  of  the  first  act  while  the  others  were 
forgetting  the  play  in  the  heat  of  discussion. 


128  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

dad  de  su  reforma,  se  han  de  ver  todavia  en  nuestra  escena  espectaculos 
tan  infelices.  iQue  pensaran  de  nuestra  escuela  los  extranjeros  que  vean 
la  comedia  de  esta  tarde?  iQue  diran  cuando  vean  las  que  se  imprimen 
continuamente?"  When  Don  Antonio  suggests  once  more  that  there  is 
no  remedy  and  that  the  wise  had  better  make  light  of  the  whole  matter, 
Don  Pedro  exclaims  in  a  fine  burst  of  patriotic  indignation,  "Los  pro- 
gresos  de  la  literatura,  Senor  Don  Antonio,  interesan  mucho  al  poder,  a 
la  gloria,  y  a  la  conservacion  de  los  imperios ;  el  teatro  influye  inmediata- 
mente  en  la  cultura  nacional ;  el  nuestro  esta  perdido  y  yo  soy  muy 
espanol !"  ^^^ 

The  didactic  purpose  of  Moratin  is  now  fulfilled.  The  rules  them- 
selves, in  what  they  have  of  true  value,  have  been  declaimed  from  the 
stage  and  directly  to  those  who  are  still  making  a  determined  stand 
against  them.  The  rest  of  the  comedy  need  not  be  any  longer  than  is 
required  for  an  effective  ending.  It  is  in  these  final  scenes  that  Moratin 
displays  great  diplomatic  skill. 

The  pit  has  just  heard  a  discourse  full  of  ideas  antagonistic  to  its 
own.  The  author  must  not  force  the  note,  or  the  attention  which  he  has 
won  so  far  is  going  to  be  lost  in  a  storm  of  whistles  and  jeers.  Clearly 
it  will  take  but  little  more  to  drive  the  pit  to  some  destructive  outburst. 
The  return  of  Dofia  Agustina,  the  wife  of  the  author,  brings  about  the 
needed  relief.  The  poor  lady  is  in  a  state  of  collapse,  and  her  condition 
saves  the  day  by  making  a  strong  appeal  to  the  sympathy  of  the  emotional 
audience  which,  for  the  moment,  forgets  its  literary  prejudices. 

The  scene  which  follows  is  a  testimony  to  the  heretofore  unsuspected 
excellence  of  judgment  of  the  mob.  This  is  a  surprise.  So  far  we  had 
been  led  to  believe  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  common  sense  among 
the  members  of  the  pit,  that  their  judgment  was  of  the  worst.  But  lo 
and  behold !  the  daughter,  Margarita,  while  her  mother  is  being  revived, 
tells  us  that  the  illiterate  spectators,  angered  by  the  accumulation  of  non- 
sense in  the  comedy  of  Don  Eleuterio,  rose  against  it  in  their  wrath. 
The  good  sense  of  the  pit  had  been  so  deeply  shocked  by  the  irregularity 
of  the  play  that  its  m.embers  had  been  driven  to  manifest  their  indigna- 
tion with  unusual  intensity. 

The  audience  in  the  "patio"  had  countenanced  the  tempest  and  the 
council  of  war.  They  had  endured  the  masked  ball  and  the  funeral  pro- 
cession. But  when  the  wretched  mother  and  the  still  more  wretched 
son  appeared  on  the  stage  calling  on  Demogorgon  and  Cancerberus  for 
vengeance  in  tones  not  at  all  weakened  by  their  six  days  of  starvation, 
the  good  audience  in  the  pit  had  found  that  its  patience  was  exhausted. 

180  Act  II,  sc.  5. 


LEANDRO  FERNANDEZ  DE   MORATIn  129 

A  riot  of  hisses  and  jeers  had  broken  out,  the  curtain  had  to  be  lowered 
and  the  exits  speedily  thrown  open.^^^ 

It  was  at  this  display  of  purely  righteous  anger  that  poor  Lady 
Agustina  fainted,  seeing  her  hopes  of  fame  and  wealth  thus  ruthlessly 
swept  away.  She  was  brought  back  in  haste  to  the  inn  by  her  mortified 
family  who  are  now  busying  themselves  to  revive  her. 

Notice  the  consummate  skill  with  which  Moratin  has  escaped  the 
fate  of  the  author  of  "The  Siege  of  Vienna."  The  pit  was  about  to 
manifest  its  discontent  after  Don  Pedro's  literary  sermon  but,  before  it 
has  had  time  to  think  up  insults  or  lay  fingers  to  lips,  it  is  confronted  first 
with  a  stirring  rush  of  actors  on  the  stage  and  then  with  a  most  flattering 
picture  of  itself.  The  astounded  musketeers  find  that  the  pit  agrees  with 
Don  Pedro,  that  it  feels  the  necessity  of  the  rules  broken  by  the  play  in 
question  and  that  the  said  play  is  altogether  unbearable. 

After  being  shown  an  imaginary  mob  possessed  of  such  excellent 
literary  sense,  how  could  its  counterpart  of  flesh  and  blood,  which  was 
witnessing  the  real  play,  do  otherwise  than  agree  with  what  was  repre- 
sented as  its  own  good  judgment?  How  could  it  consistently  hiss,  stamp 
and  threaten  violence  when  it  had  just  seen  its  own  image  inflict  such 
treatment  on  a  play  condemned  at  every  turn  by  the  one  to  which  they 
were  listening? 

Moratin  by  this  skilful  fiction  of  the  judicious  mob  put  his  own 
enemies  in  contradiction  with  themselves,  thus  disarming  them.  His 
psychological  insight  had  been  truly  wonderful  and  had  safeguarded  him 
in  such  a  perilous  conjuncture.  He  had  fairly  hypnotized  the  pit  into 
thinking  itself  the  very  opposite  of  what  it  was. 

This  was  indeed  a  very  great  victory,  but  matters  were  not  at  an 
end.  The  fact  remained  that  there  were  bad  comedies.  It  was  clear 
that  the  middle  class  was  not  responsible  for  their  existence.  Moratin 
had  just  proved  that  the  generous  proletariat  judged  such  performances 
with  very  good  sense.  What  then?  Who  was  responsible  for  the  in- 
ferior type  of  plays  which  was  continually  forced  on  the  public?  The 
crime  must  be  laid  at  some  one's  door. 

Moratin  discharged  the  whole  weight  of  the  responsibility  on  the 
weak  shoulders  of  poor  Don  Hermogenes,  the  pedant. 

This  representative  of  a  class  which  had  developed  in  proportion 
as  the  neo-classic  school  progressed  and  which  represented  its  less  intel- 
lectual or  less  sincere  members  reappears  on  the  scene  at  the  end  of  the 
play.  Don  Pedro  immediately  pounces  upon  him.  The  wretch,  seeing 
his  peril,  tries  to  leave  the  room,  but  his  enemy  is  upon  him  and  will  not 

181  Act  II,  sc.  7. 


130  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

let  him  go.  He  must  first  own  up,  not  only  that  the  comedy,  "The  Siege 
of  Vienna,"  was  a  detestable  piece  of  work,  but  that  he  always  consid- 
ered it  as  such.  He  confesses  that  he  had  praised  it  only  to  please  Don 
Eleuterio. 

This  admission  is  quickly  interpreted  in  less  gracious  terms.  The 
rascal  tried  to  flatter  Don  Eleuterio  because  he  had  in  mind  the  daugh- 
ter's hand  together  with  a  share  of  the  profits  which  would  have  come 
from  the  comedy  had  not  the  pit  shown  superior  judgment. 

Don  Hermogenes  is  therefore  driven  away  in  great  shame  by  all 
present.  Such  as  he,  wretched  critics  and  pedants,  are  responsible  for 
the  condition  of  the  stage  in  Spain.  They  flatter  authors  or  else  astonish 
the  public  with  imbecile  displays  of  shallow  erudition,  but  they  never 
teach. 

We  are  rather  surprised  at  seeing  the  poor  pedant  assume  suddenly 
such  proportions  in  wickedness.  Let  us  not  question  the  situation  too 
closely,  he  is  doing  useful  work  in  this  very  humble  way.  The  pit  may 
now  say — "Indeed  we  have  been  deceived  in  the  past  by  just  such  un- 
scrupulous fellows" — and  it  was  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  Moratin 
and  to  that  of  his  cause  that  the  indignation  of  the  illiterate  public  should 
be  made  to  gather  on  the  heads  of  anonymous  pedants. 

After  this  point  had  been  reached  there  was  only  one  thing  more 
to  be  attained.  The  anger  which  was  so  well  directed  could  in  turn 
be  appeased.  Thus  it  is  that  the  last  scene  of  the  Comedia  Nueva  savors 
strongly  of  the  "Comedie  larmoyante."  Don  Pedro  suddenly  discovers 
that  poor  Don  Eleuterio  has  written  his  nonsensical  comedy  only  as  a 
desperate  effort  to  supply  the  bare  necessities  of  life  to  his  family.  He 
had  no  regular  work.  He  had  put  his  last  hope  in  this  creation  of  his 
pen  and  now,  since  that  last  hope  had  vanished,  he  and  his  family  must 
face  starvation. 

Don  Pedro,  who  until  that  moment  had  used  all  his  energy  reiterat- 
ing that  the  comedy  was  the  worst  imaginable,  and  that  the  uneducated 
have  no  business  to  write,  now  feels  moved.  He  too  has  had  children ; 
he  is  a  blunt  man  but  he  has  a  kind  heart.  "(Aparte,  con  ternura.) 
i  Que  lastima !  .  .  .  infeliz  .  .  .  se  lo  que  es  el  corazon  de  un  padre.  No 
acompafio  con  lagrimas  esteriles  las  desgracias  de  mis  semejantes^®- 
.  .  .  ."  and  in  the  midst  of  the  growing  emotion  and  subsequent  disappear- 
ance of  all  rancor,  Don  Pedro  offers  his  former  enemy  a  remunerative 
position  as  assistant  overseer  of  his  estate.  In  addition  he  reassures 
Margarita,  who  since  the  flight  of  Don  Hermogenes  is  obsessed  with 
the  fear  of  never  finding  a  suitable  husband.     The  play  ends  with  dis- 

182  Act  II,  sc.  8. 


LEANDRO  FERNANDEZ  DE  MORATIN  131 

creet  tears  of  gratitude.  The  last  lines  are  words  of  praise  pronounced 
by  Don  Pedro  to  compliment  Don  Eleuterio  for  his  good  fortune  and  his 
good  sense  which  have  led  him  to  become  enlightened.  "Vd.  amigo  ha 
vivido  enganado ;  su  amor  propio,  la  necesidad,  el  ejemplo,  y  la  falta  de 
instruccion  le  han  hecho  escribir  disparates.  El  pueblo  le  ha  dado  una/ 
leccion  muy  dura  pero  muy  util,  puesto  que  por  ella  se  conoce  y  se  enmi- 
enda.  Ojala  los  que  hoy  tiranizan  y  corrompen  el  teatro  por  el  maldito 
furor  de  ser  autores  ya  que  desatinan  como  Vd.  le  imitaran  en  desen- 
ganarse." 

No  play  could  boast  of  a  more  skilful  coating  of  the  bitter  pill  with 
the  Horatian  sugar.  Unless  they  wished  to  claim  intellectual  kinship 
with  Don  Hermogenes,  those  who  on  the  7th  of  February,  1792,  wit- 
nessed the  first  representation  of  the  "Comedia  Nueva"  must  have  gone 
to  their  homes  feeling  convinced  that  plays  written  according  to  the 
rules  were  the  only  ones  suited  to  the  needs  of  an  intelUgent  audience. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VI. 

p.  118.  Leccion  Poetica.  Satira  contra  los  vicios  introducidos  en  la  Poesia 
Castellana.  Presented  in  competition  for  the  Academy's  prize  in  1782.  Won  sec- 
ond prize  (Forner  won  the  first).  V.  IV  of  complete  works  of  L.  F.  de  Moratin 
published  by  the  Academy  in  1830.  Exact  title  "Obras  de  Don  Leandro  Fernan- 
dez de  Moratin  dadas  a  la  luz  por  la  Real  Academia  de  la  Historia.  4  vols. 
Madrid,  1830-31. 

P.  120.  L.  F.  de  M.,  v.  Ill,  p.  205.  Introduction  to  Translation  of  Hamlet. 
Very  severe  neo-classic  criticism.  Evident  satisfaction  in  proving  that  impossible 
plays  are  to  be  found  outside  of  Spain.  The  play  is  not  moral — "divide  el  interes 
y  hace  dudosa  la  existencia  de  una  providencia  justa  al  ver  sacrificados  a  sus 
venganzas  en  horrenda  catastrofe  el  amor  incestuoso  y  el  puro  y  filial,  la  amistad, 
la  tirania,  la  adulacion,  la  perfidia  y  la  sinceridad  generosa  y  noble.  Todo  es  culpa, 
todo  se  confunde  en  igual  destrozo."  (pp.  205-211.)  Also  many  notes;  ghost  comes 
up  too  soon,  a  climax  in  Act  I ;  p.  483.  Stupid  of  him  to  waste  his  time  scaring  senti- 
nels, p.  484.  On — "Frailty,  thy  name  is  woman" — "^A  que  fin  usar  de  circunloquios 
falsos  y  pueriles  para  exprimir  idea  tan  sencilla."  p.  485  (11).  Shakespeare — "igno- 
raba  el  arte  y  no  sabia  borrar."  p.  486  (12).  Polonius  is  a  comedy  character,  p.  487 
(22).  Insanity  of  Ophelia  most  impressive  but  utterly  useless  to  the  plot.  pp.  508-9 
(8).  On  grave  digger's  scene,  "El  pueblo  ingles  gusta  de  horrores  y  bufonadas 
.  .  .  entierros  .  .  .  brujas,  etc.,"  p.  513  (1).  "Esto  agrada  al  vulgo  y  en  todas  las 
naciones  le  hay  y  quienes  adulen  su  ignorancia  y  le  aturdan  sin  ensenarle,"  p.  516 
(6).     Moratin  quotes  Washburton,  Hammon  and  S.  Johnson. 

P.  123  Several  of  the  neo-classic  authors  refer  to  the  turbulent  public  who 
stood  in  the  "patio."  Samaniego,  "Carta  Sobre  el  Teatro,"  quoted  by  Apraiz,  p.  102, 
speaks  of  "los  chisperos,  gente  baladi,  pero  temible,  que  silban  y  aplauden  por 
interes  y  en  quienes  la  inclinacion  6  el  odio,  el  aplauso  6  el  vituperio,  no  son  un 
oficio  de  la  razon  sino  del  capricho,  .  .  .  cargue  Vd.  la  mano  contra  aquellos  in- 


132  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

discretes  que  se  les  parecen ;  que  gritan  y  se  alborotan  sin  motive  .  .  .  que  no 
saben  disimular  los  descuidos,  ni  celebrar  los  aciertos  .  .  .  se  echan  de  bruces, 
vuelven  las  espaldas,  entran  y  salen,  hablan,  silban,  tararean  .  .  .  que  ni  respetan 
al  Publico  ni  quieren  que  el  Publico  les  tenga  por  atentos  y  bien  criados." 

P.  123.  Casiano  Pellicer  in  his  "Tratado  Historico  sobre  el  origen  y  pro- 
gresos  de  la  Comedia  y  Histrionismo  en  Espana,"  Madrid,  1804,  quotes  Nicolas 
Antonio,  Bib.  real,  Est.  c.  Cod,  p.  141,  folio  1786:  "Este  (el  patio)  era  el  sitio  que 
ocupaba  el  pueblo  baxo  y  la  gente  del  bronco  que  por  su  bullicio  y  griteria  fueron 
llamados  mosqueteros  con  alusion  al  genio  inquieto,  desentonado  y  turbulento  de 
los  soldados  gregarios  6  rasos  de  aquellos  tiempos  llamados  mosqueteros." 

P.  123.  Triego's  play  was  entitled  "Los  Menestrales"  and  that  of  Valdes 
was  "Las  Bodas  de  Camacho,"  an  adaptation  of  the  episode  in  Don  Quijote  which 
bears  that  name. 

P.  124.  A  complete  didactic  statement  of  neo-classic  rules  as  understood 
by  L.  F.  de  Moratin  forms  the  end  (pp.  49  ff.)  of  the  preface  to  v.  IL  This 
statement  was  partly  supplied  and  completed  for  the  1830  edition  from  notes  left 
by  Moratin,  so  that  this  prologue  is  more  complete  than  the  one  printed  with  the 
second  edition  of  1825.  It  has  the  same  three  aims  which  we  met  in  Montiano's 
discourses:  1.  Statement  of  rules,  resting  on  the  great  neo-classic  authorities. 
2.  Condemnation  of  Spanish  irregularities  in  literary  production.  3.  A  defense  of 
the  Spanish  stage  against  foreigners  who  attack  it  from  ignorance  or  prejudice. 
We  should  learn  nothing  new  from  a  careful  analysis  of  this  lucid  essay.  It  is  a 
synopsis  of  all  ideas  found  in  the  works  of  Moratin  which  we  take  up  in  this  paper. 

P.  126.  Dofia  Agustina  has  the  pretensions  of  Philamente,  and  Mariquita 
exhibits  the  type  of  common  sense  that  we  find  in  Henriette. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Acute  Stages  in  the  Neo-Classic  Controversy  at  Home  and  Abroad. 

By  studying  the  "Comedia  Nueva,"  we  have  completed  the  review 
of  that  series  of  documents  which  presented  to  each  of  the  various  classes 
composing  Spanish  society,  if  not  the  actual  dogma,  at  least  the  spirit  of 
neo-classicism. 

The  "Comedia  Nueva"  played  in  1791  completed  the  work  begun 
by  Luzan  in  1737.  It  was  the  popular  form  of  the  didactic  "Arte 
Poetica,"  and  the  logical  result  of  its  teaching. 

The  Influence  of  the  Comedia  Nueva. — We  have  just  said  that  neo- 
classicism  had  been  presented  to  the  nation  at  large  and  we  do  not  mean 
to  say  more  than  what  the  verb  we  have  used  strictly  signifies. 

To  show  the  Spanish  people  systematically  converted  to  neo-classic- 
ism,— the  aristocracy  by  Luzan,  the  bourgeoisie  by  N.  F.  de  Moratin's  lit- 
erary group  and  the  common  people  by  the  "Comedia  Nueva" — would  be 
a  most  tempting  "these."  It  would  lend  itself  to  fascinating  developments 
and  to  stirring  generalizations,  but  it  would  have  the  defect  of  being  alto- 
gether inaccurate.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  the  boast  of  Spanish  students 
of  literary  history  to  be  able  to  say  truthfully  that  at  no  moment  did  the 
Spanish  people  as  a  whole  accept  the  spirit  of  neo-classicism,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  its  dogma.  And  we  can  see  for  ourselves  how  true  that  statement 
is.  Luzan  was  not  praised  without  reserve  by  those  of  his  own  party, 
that  is,  by  the  critics  who  wrote  for  the  "Diario  de  los  Literatos."  Tliat 
review  itself,  in  spite  of  its  initial  moderation,  fell  under  the  repeated 
attacks  of  the  blind  devotees  of  the  literary  system  which  had  been 
Spain's  glory  during  the  previous  centuries.  The  more  serious  minded 
members  of  the  Academy  of  Good  Taste  had  had  to  face  the  open  hos- 
tility of  Villaroel  and  to  overlook  the  temporary  lapses  from  grace  of 
Porcel,  while  Montiano,  their  chief,  saw  himself  subjected  to  the  abuse 
of  Doms  and  to  the  no  less  disconcerting  praise  of  Padre  Isla. 

Coming  to  the  group  centered  about  the  Tertulia  de  San  Sebastian, 
we  saw  that  N.  F.  de  Moratin  and  Cadalso,  though  leaders  in  the  neo- 
classic  movement,  proved  to  be  time  and  again,  if  not  hostile,  at  least  very 
ironical  in  their  attitude  towards  the  new  literary  cult,  while  the  efforts 
of  the  government  along  lines  of  stage  reform  aroused  the  strongest  pop- 
ular opposition.     Iriarte,  the  stoutest  champion  of  neo-classicism,  was 


134  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

oi)posed  by  Sedano  among  others  and  he  was  to  die  brooding  over  the 
venomous  shafts  of  Forner's  libel,  the  "Asno  Erudito." 

When  an  opposition  arose  so  consistently  in  the  better  educated 
classes  against  a  system  based  on  reason,  it  would  be  most  futile  to  expect 
that  one  or  any  number  of  regular  plays  could  have  converted  to  neo- 
classicism  that  portion  of  society  which  of  all  classes  loved  most  ardently 
the  literature  based  on  unbridled  fancy. 

The  advantages  gained  by  neo-classicism  through  the  success  scored 
by  the  "Comedia  Nueva"  were  then  extremely  relative.  What  followed 
Moratin's  victory  was  that  neo-classic  plays  were  no  longer  to  be  mobbed 
merely  because  of  the  principles  underlying  their  composition;  if  they 
were  not  to  be  greeted  enthusiastically  by  audiences  freshly  converted  to 
the  dogma  of  reason,  they  were  to  be  tolerated  first,  and  then  judged  on 
their  own  merits.  The  occupants  of  the  "patio"  still  held  plays  at  their 
mercy,  but  somehow  they  had  lost  in  part  the  stout  faith  in  their  critical 
ability  which  had  made  them  so  powerful  in  the  past.  Plays  were  still 
hissed  out  of  existence  but  such  demonstrations  occurred  at  less  frequent 
intervals  and  with  decreasing  violence.  To  sum  up,  the  right  to  judge 
had  left  in  part  the  class  of  society  in  whose  power  it  had  been  exclu- 
sively vested  ever  since  the  good  old  days  of  Lope  and  it  had  taken  its 
abode  among  the  more  intellectual  bourgeoisie.  The  reception  given  to 
the  "Comedia  Nueva"  merely  symbolized  the  partial  yet  profound  change 
which  had  taken  place  in  the  literary  life  of  Spain.* 

Such  writers  as  Cotarelo  y  Mori  who  suffer  intensely  at  the  thought 
that  anything  foreign  could  really  have  taken  a  firm  footing  in  Spain, 
repeat,  as  often  as  they  can  bring  about  an  opportunity  to  do  so,  that 
the  "Comedia  Nueva"  enjoyed  the  merest  "succes  d'estime,"  that  its  pale 
and  insipid  charms  were  received  with  patience  and  charity  but  that  it 
never  scored  and  never  could  score  a  real  triumph.* 

No  one  will  claim  that  little  comedy  to  be  one  of  the  masterpieces 
of  the  world's  literature.  What  can  not  be  denied  is  that  it  is  the  only 
first-class  production  of  its  genre  given  by  Spain  during  the  whole  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  that  it  is  the  direct  result  of  those  theories  which 
had  been  introduced  by  Spaniards  into  their  country  with  the  hope  of 
raising  again  the  literature  of  the  nation  to  the  honorable  place  it  had 
once  held  among  European  letters. 

This  desire  to  ignore  facts  and  this  consistent  attempt  to  minimize 
the  already  modest  results  of  the  neo-classic  movement  are  found  in  many 
Spanish  writers  of  our  own  day. 

This  tendency  to  narrowness  can  be  forgiven  since,  after  all,  it  is 
based  on  a  principle  which  is  distinctly  respectable,  namely,  patriotism. 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   CONTROVERSY  135 

Their  spirit  is  that  which  actuated  the  heroes  of  the  anti-neo-classic 
struggle  from  Villaroel  to  Forner.  It  represents  the  bhnd  patriotism 
which  feels  that  admission  of  a  national  weakness  is  akin  to  high  treason 
and  it  is  the  counterpart  of  the  attitude  of  the  members  of  the  neo-classic 
movement  who  grieved  at  being  compelled  to  admit  any  national  weak- 
ness but  who  were  filled  with  the  hope  that  time  and  well  directed  energy 
could  bring  about  the  necessary  remedy. 

The  Attitude  of  Foreigners  Towards  Spain  During  the  N eo-Classic 
Controversy. — It  is  only  fair  to  admit  that  the  attitude  of  foreigners  in 
the  majority  of  cases  was  not  one  calculated  to  draw  from  patriotic 
Spaniards  any  candid  confession  of  literary  inferiority.  The  lines  of  Boi- 
leau  condemning  the  Spanish  drama  were  fairly  typical  of  the  attitude 
of  arrogance  of  the  neo-classicists  of  Europe  towards  the  nation  which  was 
still  outside  the  rational  fold.  Montiano  had  good  grounds  for  attacking, 
if  not  the  very  words,  at  least  the  supercilious  attitude  of  Du  Perron. 

As  the  century  wore  on,  the  interest  of  foreigners  in  Spanish  matters 
kept  increasing  and  the  judgment  emitted  contained,  quite  consistently, 
pity  for  Spain's  literary  folly  in  the  past  and,  in  a  protecting  tone,  hopes 
for  a  prompt  regeneration. 

We  recall  that  after  Du  Perron,  Hermilly  had  shown  his  zeal  for 
Spanish  literature  by  translating  the  prologues  and  the  tragedies  of  Mon- 
tiano, making  possible  the  premature  enthusiasm  of  Lessing  and  helping 
Dieze  of  Gottingen  in  his  painstaking  research  on  Spanish  subjects. 
Above  all,  the  Jesuits  by  means  of  the  Journal  de  Trevoux  kept  inform- 
ing their  readers  of  the  progress  of  literature  in  Spain.  Finally  the  din 
arising  from  the  neo-classic  controversy  waxed  so  in  volume  as  to  become 
perceptible  to  foreign  ears  across  the  Pyrenees  and  to  awake  an  echo  over 
the  sea  among  Italian  "litterateurs." 

/.  F.  de  Bourgoing. — The  most  intelligent  and  the  fairest  account  of 
conditions  in  Spain  written  by  a  Frenchman  is  to  be  found  in  the  "Nou- 
veau  voyage  en  Espagne"  published  in  1789  by  Baron  Jean  Franqois  de 
Bourgoing.  This  gentleman  has  left  us  an  impartial  judgment  of  the 
condition  of  the  drama  at  the  Spanish  capital  towards  the  end  of  the 
century.^^3  It  is  clear  from  his  account  that  he  possessed  an  unusually 
broad  judgment  for,  as  we  shall  be  able  to  see  presently,  his  criticisms 
are  based  not  on  narrow  considerations  of  adherence  or  non-adherence 
to  a  few  Aristotelian  rules,  but  they  derive  altogether  from  the  much 
deeper  standards  arising  from  good  taste  and  sound  common  sense. 

What  keen  power  of  observation  and  analysis  the  French  traveler 


i83Nouveau    voyage    en    Espagne    ou    Tableau    de    I'Etat    Actuel    de    cette 
Monarchic,  1789,  by  Jean  Frangois,  baron  de  Bourgoing.    3  vols. 


136  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

possessed  may  be  deduced  from  the  following  lines  in  which  he  explains 
to  his  countrymen  the  reasons  why  the  literature  in  favor  in  France  can 
never  become  popular  in  Spain:  "Leur  imagination  bardie  jusqu'a 
I'extravagance,  pour  laquelle  la  boursoufflure  n'est  que  de  I'enthousiasme, 
trouve  nos  conceptions  froides  et  timides.  Accoutumes  a  I'exageration 
et  a  la  redondance,  ils  ne  peuvent  apprecier  le  merite  de  la  justesse  et  de 
la  precision  de  nos  expressions.  Les  fines  nuances  du  tableau  de  nos 
ridicules  et  de  nos  moeurs  echappent  a  leurs  yeux  trop  exerces  sur  des 
caricatures,  et  quant  aux  formes  de  notre  style,  leur  oreille  gatee  par 
la  brillante  prosodie  de  leurs  phrases  cadencees,  par  le  retour  frequent  et 
affecte  de  leurs  mots  sonores,  ne  peut  trouver  de  grace  a  des  mots  sou- 
vent  sourds,  qui  parlent  plus  a  I'ame  qu'aux  sens,  et  la  rondeur  de  leurs 
elegantes  periodes  est  perdue  pour  elle."^^*  A  little  farther,  Bourgoing 
passes  adverse  criticism  on  the  too  great  complexity  of  plot  in  the 
Comedia,  but  he  remarks  with  admiration  on  the  wide-awake  audiences 
who  manage  never  to  lose  the  thread  of  an  action  no  matter  how  complex 
it  may  be.  He  condemns  the  "Gracioso,"  "un  insipide  bouffon,"  but  he  adds 
that  "le  theatre  espagnol  pourrait  encore  etre  pour  nous  une  source  abon- 
dante  de  richesse,  a  present  sur  tout  que  notre  imagination,  beaucoup 
moins  feconde  que  celle  de  nos  allies  parait  s'etre  epuisee  et  que  notre 
gout  plus  epure,  plus  sur  qu'il  n'etait  du  temps  de  Corneille,  saurait  mieux 
extraire  de  cette  mine  les  tresors  qu'elle  recele."  ^^^ 

What  Bourgoing  can  not  comprehend  is  the  admiration  of  intelligent 
Spaniards  for  the  punning  and  quibbling  propensities  of  their  authors : 
"J'ai  souvent  remarque  avec  etonnement  qu'ils  honoraient  du  nom  de 
traits  ingenieux,  qu'ils  applaudissaient  avec  une  sorte  de  ravissement  des 
plaisanteries  que  nous  releguerions  au  rang  de  pitoyables  calembours."  ^^^ 
Furthermore  Bourgoing  was  rather  disgusted  with  the  supremacy  of  the 
"patio"  which  is  as  noisy  and  hard  to  suit  as  if  it  had  the  right  to  have  a 
voice  in  the  matter.  The  cautiousness  with  which  players  and  play- 
wrights cater  to  its  least  whims  reminds  him  of  the  worship  paid  by  In- 
dians to  the  Devil  or  of  the  cake  thrown  by  the  Sybil  into  the  jaws  of 
Cerberus.  Equally  repulsive  to  Bourgoing  was  the  deliberate  choice  of 
an  inferior  ideal  by  the  better  classes  of  society.  He  was  shocked  to  see 
people  of  quality  seeking  eagerly  to  have  it  said  of  them  "II  a  bien  I'air 
d'un  Majo,"  or  "On  la  prendrait  pour  une  Maja."* 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  these  reservations  and  this  undisguised  scorn  for 
a  turn  of  mind  which  had  hitched  its  wagon  to  the  low-lying  star  of  the 

"4  Bourgoing,  v.  I,  p.  321. 

185  Bourgoing,  v.  I,  p.  331. 

186  Bourgoing,  v.  I,  p.  333. 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   CONTROVERSY  137 

"rude  populaire,"  we  can  find  nowhere  a  more  noble  tribute  to  the  excel- 
lent qualities  of  the  better  representatives  of  the  Spanish  dramatic  genres. 

On  certain  "saynetes"  he  exclaims  "Ce  n'est  pas  une  imitation,  c'est  la 
chose  meme !"  and  in  at  least  one  instance  he  is  not  afraid  to  compare 
favorably  the  Spanish  drama  with  that  of  his  own  country.  These  are 
his  words : 

"Les  Espagnols,  nos  predecesseurs  sinon  nos  maitres,  nos  guides 
sinon  nos  modeles  dans  la  carriere  dramatique  ont  ete  moins  timides, 
moins  exclusifs  que  nous  en  la  parcourant.  lis  ont  dans  leurs  anciennes 
comedies  des  exemples  attachants  de  toutes  les  vertus  qu'on  pent  precher 
a  un  peuple,  de  loyaute,  de  fermete,  de  justice,  de  bienfaisance  surtout. 
On  a  beau  dire,  malgre  les  extravagances  qui  servent  de  canevas  au 
Poete,  malgre  I'exageration  des  traits  de  son  tableau,  on  sort  de  pareilles 
representations  plus  dispose  a  I'exercice  de  ces  vertus,  qu'on  ne  le  serait 
au  sortir  des  meilleures  pieces  tout  a  fait  comiques  ou  Ton  se  borne  a  tirer 
une  suite  de  situations  plaisantes  du  fond  d'un  caractere  bien  trace  ou 
I'on  prend  des  legons  de  malignite  plutot  que  des  legons  de  bonte."  ^®^ 

Had  all  foreign  critics  been  as  impartial  and  as  well  informed  as 
Bourgoing,  only  the  most  extreme  Gallophobes  could  have  taken  excep- 
tion to  their  statements.  He  condemned  in  the  Spanish  drama  only 
those  points  which,  near  the  end  of  the  neo-classic  controversy,  had  been 
abandoned  by  so  many  good  Spaniards  of  the  better  or  more  educated 
classes.  Unfortunately  Bourgoing  is  a  rather  isolated  representative  of 
justice  and  good  sense  among  the  foreign  writers  who  interested  them- 
selves in  the  literature  of  Spain  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  champions 
of  the  anti-neo-classic  movement  were  soon  obliged  to  turn  such  weapons 
as  they  had  against  the  cocksure  and  snobbish  foreigners  who,  with  little 
learning  and  no  greater  amount  of  good  sense,  undertook  to  judge  Span- 
ish literature  and  Spanish  civilization.  The  most  shocking  instance  of 
this  combination  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  was  the  article  prepared  for 
the  "Nouvelle  Encyclopedic"  by  an  author  now  altogether  forgotten,  who 
exclaimed  arrogantly  in  the  essay  on  Spain :  "Que  doit-on  a  I'Es- 
pagne?"  concluding  that  no  one  had  ever  owed  anything  to  Spain,  a 
country  whose  contribution  to  civilization  was,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, nihil. 

What  with  the  natural  sensitiveness  of  Castilian  pride  exasperated 
by  the  brutality  of  such  a  statement  and  what  with  the  pin  pricks  caused 
by  reservations  made  by  fairer  and  more  intelligent  critics,  Spanish 
writers,  for  a  time,  found  themselves  involved  in  a  hot  literary  contro- 
versy with   foreigners.     As  it  often  happens  in  such  cases,  those  who 


187  Bourgoing,  v.  I,  p.  351. 


138  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

after  all  were  the  least  guilty  received  the  heaviest  blame.  The  Italians, 
one  of  whom,  Signorelli,  we  have  already  mentioned,  and  two  others, 
Bettinelli  and  Tiraboschi,  had  each  written  a  treatise  on  the  history  of 
Spanish  literature.  Each  had  been  guilty  of  heaping  at  least  a  minimum 
of  neo-classic  maledictions  on  the  Spanish  stage. 

The  book  of  Signorelli  is  still  a  highly  respectable  piece  of  work 
and,  at  the  time  of  its  publication,  it  stood  head  and  shoulders  above 
any  other  compilation  of  its  kind  published  in  Spain.  Ticknor  mentions 
it  as  being  still  able  to  yield  valuable  information  on  the  field  it  aimed  to 
cover.  But,  as  we  have  already  hinted,  it  viewed  the  subject  of  the 
drama  from  the  standpoint  of  the  reforming  party.  Its  publication  was 
followed  by  renewed  indignation  on  the  part  of  the  antagonists  of  the 
reform  movement  who  saw  just  one  thing;  namely,  that  whereas,  up  to 
that  date,  the  dispute  over  neo-classicism  had  been  "en  famille,"  so  to 
speak,  now  the  shame  of  Spain  had  become  the  public  property  of  all  the 
enemies  of  the  nation. 

If  the  true  patriots  found  Signorelli's  work  objectionable  they  had  a 
still  better  cause  for  indignation  in  the  books  of  Tiraboschi  and  of  Bet- 
tinelli who,  by  the  hackneyed  dogmatic  condemnation  of  free  fancy 
sought  to  avenge  their  own  country  from  the  slurs  cast  on  it  by  Valazquez 
some  forty  years  before.  They  felt  that  it  was  time  to  show  the  world  that 
Italy  was  not  responsible  for  Spain's  deplorable  literary  taste.  To  make 
sure  of  their  point,  they  went  farther  than  to  deny  Italy's  guilt  and  laid 
the  responsibility  for  such  errors  as  might  be  picked  in  Italian  literature 
at  the  door  of  Spain,  quite  turning  the  tables  on  their  long-deceased 
opponent.  With  great  solemnity  these  two  worthies  enlarged  on  the 
baneful  influence  of  Spain,  a  country  much  given  to  bombast  and  inca- 
pable, because  of  the  very  nature  of  its  climate,  of  producing  great  ora- 
tors and  great  poets ! 

This  misdirected  and  not  altogether  well-meaning  interest  displayed 
by  Italians  called  forth  a  seven-volume  rejoinder  from  one  of  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  who  after  the  expulsion  of  their  order  from  Spain  in  1776  had 
taken  up  their  abode  in  Italy.* 

Father  Lampillas. — Father  Lampillas,^®®  in  spite  of  his  exile  and  the 
cruel  treatment  which  he  had  shared  with  the  other  members  of  his 
order  at  the  hands  of  the  government  of  Charles  III,  had  lost  none  of  his 
love  for  the  fatherland. 

He  gave  a  powerful  proof  of  his  love  of  country  when  he  under- 
took to  refute,  in  seven  volumes,  as  we  have  just  said,  the  combined 
attacks  of  Bettinelli  and  Tiraboschi,  making  in  addition  such  slight  incur- 

^88  The  more  correct  and  less  popular  spelling  of  this  name  is  Llampillas. 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC  CONTROVERSY  139 

sions  against  the  book  of  Signorelli  as  seemed  to  him  advisable.  In 
1789  the  whole  of  Lampillas'  work  was  translated  by  Dona  Josepha  Amor 
y  Borbon  who  undertook  this  heavy  task,  as  she  tells  us,  in  the  foreword, 
to  facilitate  the  defense  of  the  good  name  of  Spain. 

The  work  of  Lampillas,  although  it  is  at  once  an  apology  and  a  refu- 
tation, is  not  at  all  indignant  in  its  tone.  Its  author  knew  that  the  attack 
of  the  Italian  writers  was  justified  to  some  extent  and  that  whatever 
was  unfair  in  it  rested  on  arguments  so  flimsy  that  only  the  strongest 
prejudice  or  bad  faith  could  find  in  them  anything  conclusive.*  Lampil- 
las admitted  that  Tiraboschi  and  Bettinelli  had  praised  Spanish  Litera- 
ture as  often  as  they  had  been  able  to  base  their  approval  on  what  seemed 
to  them  solid  reasons.  What  he  objected  to  was  the  small  number  of 
times  that  the  two  Italians  had  felt  justified  in  dispensing  praise.  Ac- 
cording to  them,  the  history  of  Spanish  literature  was  comparable  to  a 
long  night  of  bad  taste  broken  into  only  at  rare  intervals  by  faint  glim- 
mers of  common  sense.  Furthermore,  twice  in  the  history  of  Italian  let- 
ters had  Spanish  influence  proved  deleterious.  It  had  brought  about  the 
decadence  of  letters  which  followed  the  Augustan  age  and  it  had  intro- 
duced its  Gongorism  into  Italy  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

It  may  very  well  be  that  this  heavy  responsibility  laid  on  Spanish  lit- 
erature was  only  a  way  on  the  part  of  the  Italian  writers  in  question  to 
strike  back  at  Velazquez  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  claimed  that  Gon- 
gorism was  of  Italian  origin. 

This  did  not  occur  to  Lampillas,  for  he  reproaches  Bettinelli  and 
Tiraboschi  for  having  made  use  neither  of  Antonio's  monumental  work 
on  Spanish  literature  nor  of  the  little  treatise  of  Velazquez. ^®® 

Whether  or  not  the  works  of  the  two  Italian  writers  contained  a 
refutation  of  the  theories  of  Velazquez,  their  main  attacks  on  Spanish 
literature  were  based  on  the  commonplaces  of  neo-classic  criticism  which 
we  have  enumerated  so  often  in  the  course  of  this  study  that  we  may  well 
be  spared  the  task  of  restating  them  at  this  point. 

In  just  one  instance  did  the  Italian  critics  introduce  a  new  element 
into  their  discussion,  and  that  element  was  of  such  a  nature  as  to  amuse 
the  reader  rather  than  to  convince  him.  Both  these  writers  had  become 
imbued  with  the  theories  of  Father  Du  Bos  concerning  the  influence 
of  climate  on  national  character.  This  had  caused  them  to  make,  per- 
haps quite  independently,  the  same  remark  on  the  real  cause  for  the 
presence  of  elements  of  extravagance  in  Spanish  letters.  Spaniards, 
said  Tiraboschi,  have  a  natural  tendency  to  over-subtlety  and  this  arises 
directly  from  the  nature  of  their  country's  climate.     In  the  quality  of 


189  Lampillas,  v.  I,  p.  27. 


140  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

Spain's  climate  lies  the  cause  which  has  brought  it  about  that  the  penin- 
sula, while  rich  in  scholastic  philosophers,  has  produced  so  few  great 
poets  or  great  orators.  Bettinelli  made  a  statement  bearing  a  similar 
meaning,  but  neither  writer  attempted  to  trace  the  mysterious  relation- 
ship which  they  felt  existed  between  Castilian  climate  and  Castilian  love 
for  brilliancy  and  exaggeration  in  art.* 

As  climate  is  after  all  a  pretty  consistent  factor  in  any  formula, 
these  statements  amounted  to  saying  that  Spain  had  never  been  free 
from  the  Gongoristic  blight  in  the  past  and  that,  short  of  some  great 
natural  cataclysm,  the  future  would  bring  no  marked  improvement. 

Lampillas  took  the  matter  quite  seriously,  combated  it  by  minimiz- 
ing as  well  as  he  could  the  harm  done  by  the  excessive  ingenuity  of 
Spanish  authors,  and  then  proceeded  to  carry  war  into  the  enemy's  camp 
by  discussing  the  weak  points  of  Italian  literature. 

Italians,  said  Lampillas,  are  willing  to  admit  that  the  founders  and 
the  models  of  their  literature  are  Dante,  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio ;  this 
is  as  much  as  confessing  that  poetry  is  the  only  genre  of  importance  in 
Italian  Hterature  and  that  solidarity  of  thought  is  consistently  sacrificed 
to  harmony,  grace  and  polish.^^*' 

This  judgment  is  natural  enough  in  an  ecclesiastic  who  would  con- 
sider a  literature  as  good  only  in  so  far  as  it  gave  evidence  of  an  avowed 
moral  purpose.  The  neo-classic  movement  advocating  a  simple  and  di- 
rect style  and  preferring  to  deal  with  rationalistic  ideas  seemed  to  Lam- 
pillas to  deserve  the  same  treatment  as  poetry.  Like  the  other  forms  of 
polite  letters,  it  dealt  with  puny  subjects  and  Spain  might  well  be  said 
to  be  decadent  since  it  had  abandoned  the  leadership  of  its  great  mystic 
writers  to  follow  the  footsteps  of  shallow  philosophers  and  scientists. 
What  are  the  modern  investigators  compared  to  the  great  Church 
Fathers?  "i  Porque  ha  de  ser  una  empresa  tan  grande  indagar  el  movi- 
mento  de  los  cuerpos  por  las  leyes  de  la  atraccion  y  no  ha  de  ser  igual — 
reflexionar  con  San  Augustin  y  otros  Padres  como  atrae  la  gracia  nuestro 
corazon?     Mas  este  es  el  modo  de  pensar  del  siglo  presente."  ^^^ 

If  we  were  to  add  to  these  remarks  specific  judgments  passed  by 
Lampillas  on  Italian  literature  we  should  see  that  he  had  no  very  clear 
idea  of  the  nature  and  function  of  polite  letters  since  he  confuses  their 
purpose  with  that  of  theology  or  at  least  would  limit  their  usefulness  to 
the  expression  of  religious  faith. 

The  one  instance  in  which  Lampillas  breaks  away  from  the  custom- 
ary judgments  of  his  party  or  of  his  profession  is  in  dealing  with  the 
Comedia.     He  does  not  limit  himself,  like  the  majority  of  the  apolo- 

190  V.  Ill,  pp.  1  ff. 


y  .      xxa,     pp.      i 

"1  V.  Ill,  p.  35. 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC  CONTROVERSY  141 

gists  of  the  genre,  to  singing  the  praises  of  the  style  and  dramatic  in- 
genuity of  the  authors  of  the  old  school.  Lampillas,  while  recognizing 
these  qualities,  went  deeper  into  the  matter  and  founded  his  favorable, 
judgment  of  the  Comedia  on  the  fact  that  it  described  with  admirable 
fidelity  a  certain  phase  in  the  development  of  Spanish  society.  What 
Lampillas  found  to  admire  in  the  Comedia  was  not  so  much  its  intri- 
cacies and  its  lyricism  but  its  realism. 

Just  how  original  this  way  of  judging  the  Comedia  was  with  him 
is  difficult  to  say.  He  expounds  it  with  clearness  but,  in  so  doing,  he 
makes  use  mainly  of  quotations  drawn  from  authors  who  had  expressed 
a  similar  idea  in  connection  with  some  other  form  of  literature.  Whether 
his  opinion  happened  to  coincide  with  those  of  other  critics  or  whether 
he  merely  derived  his  from  theirs  we  can  not  say.  Even  in  the  latter  case 
he  would  have  shown  some  originality  in  applying  to  a  Spanish  genre 
the  kind  of  thought  which  was  obtaining  more  and  more  partisans  in  the 
rest  of  Europe. 

From  Fontenelle's  "Life  of  Corneille"  Lampillas  quoted  the  follow- 
ing lines:  "Para  hacer  recto  juicio  de  una  obra,  basta  considerarla  en 
si  misma,  mas  por  juzgar  bien  del  merito  de  un  autor,  es  preciso  atender 
al  siglo  en  que  escribio."  ^^^  Then  taking  the  second  half  of  the  state- 
ment as  being  true,  not  only  in  the  case  of  the  author  of  a  "comedia"  but 
also  in  that  of  his  work,  he  aims  to  show  that  it  is  unreasonable  to  judge 
such  a  play  without  a  knowledge  of  the  ideals  of  the  society  for  which 
it  was  composed.^^^ 

This  plea  for  the  admission,  in  criticism,  of  the  element  of  relativity 
is  followed  by  an  attack  on  the  French  drama  which  quite  anticipates 
the  criticisms  of  Schlegel  and  of  his  disciples,  the  critics  of  the  Romantic 
school:  "Peor  que  hacer  Rodomonte  y  Penthesileas  a  los  Caballeros  y 
Damas  Espanolas,  es  presentarnos  al  inflexible  Regulo  cortejando  y  teni- 
endo  siempre  a  su  lado  a  su  querida  como  dice  Dorat  del  Regulo  de 
Pradon  y  el  representar  a  Achiles  suspirando  de  su  Dama ;  aquel  Achiles 
que  segun  Horacio  deberia  pintarse ; 

Impiger,  iracundus,  inexorabilis,  acer  ^^* 
Jura  neget  sibi  nata,  nihil  non  arroget  armis." 

Those  who  write  plays  so  far  removed  from  reality  are  the  ones  who 
yield  to  unworthy  ideals.  Of  these  are  the  French  authors  who  have 
weakly  bowed  before  "el  imperio  popular  y  mugeril."  "" 

i92v.  VI,  p.  239. 
193  V.  VII,  p.  239. 
i«*  V.  VII,  p.  242. 
196  V.  VII,  p.  269. 


195 


142  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

To  complete  his  argument  he  quotes  again,  this  time  from  Goldoni : 
"No  obstante  yo  crco  que  mas  escrupulosamente  que  algunos  preceptos  de 
Aristoteles  6  de  Horacio  se  deben  guardar  las  leyes  del  pueblo  en  su 
espetaculo  destinado  a  su  instruccion  per  medio  de  su  entretenimiento 
y  deleite."  ^«« 

While  Lampillas  was  adopting  this  new  and  efficient  argument  to 
defend  his  country  among  foreigners,  Garcia  de  la  Huerta  was  giving 
utterance,  at  home,  to  the  pent-up  indignation  of  that  class  of  Spanish 
society  which  had  not  become  reconciled  with  the  theories  of  the  neo- 
classic  school  or  with  the  efforts  at  applying  these  theories. 

Garcia  de  la  Huerta. — With  the  usual  desire  of  vindicating  the 
Spanish  drama,  Garcia  de  la  Huerta  had  pubHshed  a  collection  of  Span- 
ish "comedias"  under  the  title  of  "Teatro  Hespanol."  ^^''  The  bad  selec- 
tion of  the  plays  and  the  strange  spelling  of  the  title  were  to  bring  upon 
the  compiler  a  flood  of  ridicule  while  the  introduction,  by  its  virulence, 
was  to  make  him  many  bitter  enemies  in  and  out  of  Spain. 

It  is  this  introduction  which  interests  us  now.  It  contains  an  expres- 
sion of  all  the  exasperation  which  had  been  fermenting  in  certain  un- 
compromising Castilian  hearts  ever  since  the  neo-classic  movement  had 
begun  and  more  so  than  ever  since  Spain's  literary  civil  war  had  come 
to  the  notice  of  unsympathetic  foreigners. 

In  his  prologue,  then,  we  find  that  Huerta  not  only  defended  the 
Spanish  drama  and  attacked  the  neo-classic  school  generally  but  we  see 
him  making  eft'orts  to  convict  SignoreUi  of  ignorance,  Voltaire  of  bad 
faith,  Du  Perron  of  impertinence  and  Linguet  *  of  stupidity.  Not  satis- 
fied with  having  humiUated  to  his  own  satisfaction  those  foreigners  who 
had  dared  meddle  with  Spanish  literature,  he  made  a  sweeping  condem- 
nation of  the  French  drama,  then  turned  on  those  Spanish  authors  who 
had  had  the  misfortune  of  being  praised  by  foreigners.  Cervantes,  for 
instance,  is  dealt  with  mercilessly  in  this  attempt  to  lay  low  everything 
neo-classic  in  and  out  of  Spain.  This  severity  was  due  to  the  theory  ex- 
pounded by  Nasarre  concerning  the  hidden  meaning  of  the  great  Span- 
iard's "comedias"  and  also  to  the  neo-classic  turn  of  the  forty-eighth 
chapter  of  the  Quijote.* 

As  a  whole,  this  essay  of  Huerta  is  a  chaotic  piece  of  writing 
abounding  in  contradictions  and  paradoxes  expressed  in  a  style  which  has 
the  merit  of  keeping  the  reader  either  stirred  or  amused. 

SignoreUi  is  the  first  individual  executed  by  Huerta  who  has  found 
colossal  blunders  in  his  work  on  Spanish  literature.     SignoreUi,  it  would 


196  V.  VII,  p.  273. 

13^  La  escena  Hespanola  Defendida  en  el  Prologo  del  Theatre  Hespanol  de  D. 
Vicente  Garcia  de  la  Huerta.     Madrid,  1786. 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   CONTROVERSY  143 

seem,  had  stated  that  no  autos  had  been  written  before  Lope  and  he  had 
made  the  amazing  announcement  that  the  great  dramatist  had  written 
his  "Arte  Nuevo"  to  placate  the  Spanish  Academy.  What  Spanish  Acad- 
emy? exclaims  Huerta.  There  was  no  society  known  by  that  name  in 
the  days  of  Lope.  The  Italian  author  must  have  meant  to  refer  to  the 
unofficial  "Academia  de  Madrid."  If  only  he  would  try  to  state  facts  cor- 
rectly instead  of  digressing  at  every  moment  into  criticisms  of  his  own 
making,  his  work  might  hope  to  have  some  value.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
he  is  so  poorly  informed  that  he  does  not  know  the  origin  of  the  terms 
"Polacos"  and  "Chorizos."  Instead  of  trying  to  investigate  the  matter,  he 
prefers  to  cry  out  against  the  actions  of  these  worthy  representatives  of 
popular  taste  who,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  behave  neither  better  nor  worse 
than  the  theatre-loving  mob  of  any  other  country.  Barring  a  few  fist  cuffs 
now  and  then  they  form  an  eminently  respectable  part  in  a  theatrical 
audience.^**" 

Passing  brusquely  from  Signorelli's  work  to  some  French  transla- 
tions of  Spanish  "comedias"  published  in  1780  by  an  anonymous  author, 
he  reviles  the  latter  for  having  compared  the  auto  to  the  French  "mys- 
teres"  and  then  eagerly  grasps  this  opportunity  to  denounce  in  neo-classic 
style,  the  absurdity  of  the  French  medieval  genre.  "Comedias"  at  their 
worst  never  exhibited  such  extravagant  and  absurd  plots  as  were  found 
currently  in  the  early  dramatic  productions  of  France.  Furthermore  the 
unknown  author  was  not  up-to-date  when  he  wrote  the  introduction  to  his 
translations.  He  simply  followed  Voltaire  and  for  that  reason  committed 
the  blunder  of  speaking  of  the  autos  as  if  they  were  still  to  be  seen  on 
the  Spanish  stage.  Huerta  did  not  let  such  a  mistake  pass  by  unchal- 
lenged and,  as  the  poor  ignoramus  was  unwise  enough  to  add  insult  to 
injury  by  making  ironical  remarks  on  the  great  productivity  of  certain 
Spanish  authors,  he  drew  on  his  own  nation  a  raging  harangue  the  pur- 
pose of  which  was  to  leave  it  stripped  of  every  shred  of  honor  or  glory. 
In  one  paragraph,  Huerta  tried  to  take  revenge  on  France  for  all  the 
slights  lavished  on  Spain  by  her  since  the  insulting  attitude  of  the  Jesuits 
before  the  foundation  of  the  "Diario"  to  the  infamous  interpretation  of 
Du  Bos'  theory  by  Bettinelli  and  Tiraboschi  at  the  other  end  of  the 
century. 

It  is  no  wonder,  exclaims  Huerta,  tliat  our  dramatic  field  seems  too 
rich  and  too  rugged  to  the  flabby  intellects  of  men  living  in  a  country  of 
swampy  lands,  lacking  totally  "in  sulphur  and  substances"  and  so  inade- 
quately visited  by  the  sun's  rays  that  plants  never  can  thrive  unless  sup- 
ported and  trained  in  all  kinds  of  artificial  ways.    To  this  gloomy,  damp, 

200  First  twenty  pages  of  Huerta's  Prologo. 


144  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

and  spiritless  land,  the  mentality  of  the  nation  corresponds  well  enough. 
The  flaccid  intellects  of  a  people  living  in  this  country  of  the  midnight 
sun  can  never  hope  to  produce  anything  except  works  of  the  most  medi- 
ocre type.* 

No  wonder  that  the  splendid  genius  of  Spanish  literature  should  daz- 
zle those  who  are  accustomed  to  see  in  the  ignorant  plagiarizer,  Corneille, 
and  in  the  weakling,  Racine,  the  highest  conceivable  form  of  art ;  Racine 
who  tried  to  hide  his  absence  of  inspiration  under  an  insipid  Hellenism, 
and  Corneille  who  became  great  only  after  he  had  written  a  poor  imitation 
of  a  poor  play  by  one  of  Spain's  most  insignificant  authors. 

This  rather  amusing  tirade  shows  Huerta  in  his  bitterest  mood,  when, 
with  the  hope  of  humiliating  foreign  authors,  he  is  willing  to  undermine 
the  claims  to  glory  of  even  the  best  writers  of  his  country. 

Voltaire  who  had  translated  "En  esta  vida  todo  es  verdad,  todo  men- 
tira"  offered  to  Huerta  more  legitimate  opportunities  for  criticism.  His 
knowledge  of  CastiHan  was  not  very  thorough  and,  besides,  it  probably 
did  not  lie  within  the  power  of  any  human  being  to  express  adequately 
the  generous  bombast  and  vivacity  of  a  Spanish  "comedia"  in  terms  of 
neo-classic  diction.  Voltaire  did  his  best  to  give  formal  and  elegant  para- 
phrases of  those  "agudezas"  which  he  understood.  As  for  the  others, 
which  were  many,  he  was  compelled  to  confess  his  inability  to  make  them 
yield  any  sense,  saying  in  all  such  cases  "On  ne  congoit  rien  a  ce  dis- 
cours." 

Paraphrases  and  admissions  of  ignorance  were  commented  on  by 
Huerta  in  no  measured  terms.  The  latter  gave  him  a  particularly  fine 
chance  to  brand  his  victim  with  epithets  denoting  ignorance  and  to  ex- 
claim "Debio  aver  puesto  la  misma  nota  al  principio  de  ella  diciendo  'Yo 
no  intiendo  nada  de  esta  Comedia.'  Asi  se  hubiese  escusado  los  vergonzo- 
sos  y  repetidos  errores  que  incurre  en  su  'Famosa  Comedia.'  "  * 

The  use  of  this  adjective  "Famosa"'  had  given  Huerta  a  fine  oppor- 
tunity to  attack  Voltaire  at  the  very  start.  Our  translator  did  not  know 
that  the  "Famosa"  prefixed  to  a  title  was  merely  a  convention  and  did 
not  represent  an  estimate  of  the  play.  In  his  misapprehension,  he  had 
the  adjective  printed  with  the  title  as  if  to  single  out  ironically  that  par- 
ticular play  from  less  glorious  ones,  and  Huerta  lost  no  time  in  turning 
the  joke  on  the  joker. 

As  Huerta's  criticism  spared  the  humble  no  more  than  the  great,  we 
find  in  this  same  essay,  pretty  severe  judgments  passed  on  Linguet  who  had 
published,  in  1770,  a  collection  of  fifteen  comedies  and  five  "entremeses" 
translated  into  French.  Though  "El  Alcalde  de  Zalamea"  figured  in  these 
French  translations,  Huerta  exclaims  at  length  on  the  bad  taste  of  Lin- 
guet and  then  proceeds  to  pick  to  pieces  the  fine  metaphors  by  means  of 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   CONTROVERSY  145 

which  Linguet,  after  heroic  efforts,  had  managed  as  Voltaire  before  him 
to  render  CastiUan  puns  and  quibbles.  These  had  proved  as  much  of  a 
stumbUng  block  to  him  as  to  the  agile  wit  of  Voltaire.  Huerta  concludes 
disdainfully  by  saying  that  Linguet  was  well  meaning  but  quite  stupid 
and  quite  ignorant  of  the  language  which  he  was  trying  to  turn  to 
French.^"^ 

This  criticism  of  Voltaire  and  Linguet  was  surely  better  founded  than 
the  wholesale  reviling  of  French  literature  based  on  climatological  rea- 
sons and  the  lack  of  sulphur  in  French  loam,  but  we  must  admit  that  this 
essay  as  a  whole  is  the  creation  of  a  most  undisciplined  imagination.  The 
majority  of  the  judgments  it  contains  are  in  no  way  critical  but  arise  di- 
rectly from  an  unbridled  hatred  of  foreigners.  Yet  here  and  there,  in 
this  paper  and  perhaps  more  frequently  in  another  directed  against 
Samaniego,  Huerta  seems  to  have  had  lucid  intervals  during  which  he 
saw  clearly  the  real  points  at  issue.  In  such  cases  he  was  able  to  say 
tersely  and  adequately  the  few  things  which  it  was  eminently  the  right  of 
those  of  his  party  to  say.  For  instance,  after  mentioning  the  optimistic 
attitude  of  Nasarre  who  still  hoped  to  discover  regular  plays  in  Spanish 
literature,  he  remarked  with  evident  good  sense :  "No  quedaria  su  pro- 
posicion  tan  sujeta  a  la  nota  de  jactancia  si  se  redujese  a  afirmar  que  se 
puede  presentar  a  los  Estranjeros  un  extraordinario  numero  de  Piezas 
Hespaiiolas  que,  sin  embargo  de  algunas  irregularidades,  envuelven  mas 
ingenio,  mas  invencion,  mas  gracia  y  generalmente  mejor  poesia  que 
todos  sus  Theatros  correctos  y  arreglados."  -°' 

Again  in  the  answer  to  "Cosme  Damian,"  where  his  line  of  argument 
has  compelled  Huerta  to  class  the  plays  of  Cervantes  among  the  worst 
ever  written  in  the  Spanish  tongue  and  to  accuse  their  author  of  having 
taken  up  neo-classic  theorizing  only  out  of  spite  against  Lope,  he  ex- 
claims :  "Vease  quan  abstrusas  deben  ser  unas  reglas  que  a  los  diez  anos 
sabia  ya  Lope  y  en  qualquiera  estudio  de  Gramatica  Latina  se  dan  como 
las  de  la  Retorica  por  apendice  de  ella."  -°^  In  this  one  phrase  he  lays 
bare  the  whole  of  the  pedantic  side  of  neo-classicism,  the  principles  of 
which  appeared  mysterious  only  when  certain  of  their  supporters  ex- 
pressed them  by  means  of  a  barbaric  vocabulary  and  with  involved  diction. 

In  spite  of  the  statement  quoted  above  to  the  effect  that  the  thing  for 
Spaniards  to  do  is  to  show  the  good  qualities  of  the  Comedia  and  not  to 
search  for  problematical  tragedies  of  the  regular  school,  Huerta  in  his 
attack  on  Samaniego  takes  up  the  well-worn  arguments  to  prove  the  an- 
tiquity of  regular  plays  in  Spain.     The  cause  for  such  contradictions  as 

2^.  IV,  p.  124. 

202Pr61ogo,  p.   148. 

203  Answer  to  Cosme  Damian,  p.  xxxii. 

10 


146  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

this,  is,  as  we  have  said,  that  Huerta  has  only  one  principle  in  mind — to  hit 
back  at  impertinent  foreigners  who  have  misjudged  or  insulted  his  country. 
Criticism  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  arguments.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  is 
so  free  from  dogmatic  prejudice  that  there  are  times  when  he  does  not 
hesitate  to  adopt  all  the  tenets  of  neo-classicism  if  through  them  he  can 
harass  his  opponents.  Thus  he  gives  us  quite  solemnly  and  with  a  sen- 
tentiousness  worthy  of  a  member  of  an  Aristotelian  Academy,  an  analysis 
of  the  "Numancia  Destruida"  of  Cervantes,  condemning  it  because  of  its 
infraction  of  the  rules  of  good  taste.  The  reading  of  such  a  passage,  if 
taken  out  of  its  true  relation  to  the  rest  of  the  essay,  might  cause  an  un- 
wary reader  to  classify  Huerta  with  Luzan.* 

One  might  think  that  this  attitude  of  respect  towards  the  rules  so 
unexpectedly  exhibited  by  Huerta  was  merely  ironical.  But  such  is  not 
the  case.  Huerta  seems  to  be  able  to  argue  sincerely  on  both  sides  of 
the  question.  He  believes  that  the  arguments  which  he  brings  against 
Cervantes  are  unanswerable,  being  founded  on  logic,  and  yet  he  refuses 
absolutely  to  detect  any  irregularity  in  the  "comedias"  of  Lope.  To  ruin 
the  reputation  of  Cervantes,  whom  he  hates  as  a  "preceptista,"  he  ad- 
mits the  wisdom  of  the  rules  and  in  the  next  paragraph,  with  perfect 
composure  he  assures  his  reader  that  there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in 
Lope.  Moreover  he  gives  as  specimens  of  rational  literature  the  erratic 
compositions  found  in  his  "Theatro  Hespanol."  * 

Assertions  without  proofs,  paradoxes  and  contradictions  of  all 
kinds,  all  made  to  fit  into  arguments  intended  to  prop  up 
Spain's  dramatic  glory,  give  but  a  poor  opinion  of  Huerta's 
intellectual  powers.  If  it  were  not  for  the  flashes  of  understanding 
shown  here  and  there,  these  essays  would  not  be  worth  reading  ex- 
cept as  curiosities.  Of  this  redeeming  type  is  the  last  paragraph  in 
the  attack  on  Samaniego  where  again  Huerta  summarizes  the  whole 
situation  by  saying  that  what  is  now  expected  from  neo-classicists  is 
not  endless  theorizing  but  good  dramatic  composition  "Siendo  la  ver- 
dadera  impugnacion  en  estos  casos  y  la  menos  sospechosa  el  presentar 
modelos  perfectos :  porque  ladrar  trivialidades  que  nadie  ignora  arguye 
mas  espiritu  de  venganza  y  malignidad  que  suficiencia.^"* 

Signorelli. — Signorelli  who  had  spent  eighteen  years  of  his  Hfe  in 
Spain  2**^  in  the  most  friendly  intercourse  with  the  leaders  of  the  "Ter- 
tulia  de  San  Sebastian"  was  very  much  disturbed  by  the  attacks  directed 
against  him  by  Lampillas  and  by  Huerta.* 

2°*  Cosme,  D.,  p.  xxxii. 

^o"*  Signorelli,  v.  IV,  p.  81,  tells  us  that  he  left  Spain  in  1783,  one  year  before 
the  appearance  of  Huerta's  "Gran  Prologo,"  and  that  his  total  residence  in  Spain 
had  lasted  eighteen  years. 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC  CONTROVERSY  147 

The  prologue  to  the  "Theatro  Hespanol"  was  written  a  year  after 
Signorelli  had  returned  to  Italy  and  that  author  in  self-defense  published, 
in  Italian,  a  second  edition  of  his  history  of  the  drama  in  Spain  in  which 
he  strove  to  combat,  by  foot-notes  and  by  paragraphs  inserted  in  the 
body  of  the  work,  the  accusation  of  ignorance  and  bad  faith  made 
against  him  by  his  Spanish  opponents.  To  make  his  victory  more  cer- 
tain, Signorelli  proceeded  to  review  the  blunders  of  the  main  Spanish 
critics  who  had  dealt  with  the  drama  since  the  beginning  of  the  century. 
He  took  a  cruel  pleasure  in  showing  where  Montiano's  knowledge  of 
literary  history  was  inadequate,  wherein  Nasarre  made  himself  ridicu- 
lous* and  where  Velazquez  failed  to  convince  his  reader.  Of  course  he 
passed  from  irony  to  anger  when  coming  to  the  writings  of  Huerta  and 
proved  rather  harsh  against  Lampillas  whose  quarrel  after  all  had  been 
mainly  with  Bettinelli  and  with  Tiraboschi,  and  not  with  Signorelli. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Signorelli  was  better  informed  and  more 
capable  as  a  literary  historian  than  any  of  his  competitors  and  detractors. 
The  confidence  which  he  felt  in  his  superiority  is  shown  in  the  assured 
and  calm  way  with  which  he  states  his  arguments  particularly  in  the 
case  of  the  old,  old  question  concerning  the  existence  of  regular  plays 
in  the  peninsula.  They  could  have  been  found  in  Sa  de  Miranda  but 
attempts  to  make  the  foundation  of  the  Spanish  stage  antedate  that  of 
any  other  in  Europe  are  frivolous.  Referring  to  the  argument  generally 
brought  forward  to  this  effect,  Signorelli  says  "Non  si  avvidero  questi 
eruditi  che  un  'puo  essere'  in  buona  logica  non  mai  produce  per  conse- 
guenza  un  e."  ^°^ 

In  spite  of  the  controversial  elements  it  contained,  this  new  edition 
of  Signorelli's  work  retained  in  the  main  its  original  tone  and  the  criti- 
cisms of  Spanish  plays,  while  following  the  rules  of  good  taste,  give 
evidence  of  a  friendly  spirit.  His  indignation  against  the  treatment  he 
had  received  from  Huerta  did  not  blind  him  to  the  extent  of  making 
him  reverse  his  opinions.  The  closing  lines  of  the  work,  coming  after 
Signorelli  has  spent  his  thunder  against  his  opponents,  form  a  sane  and 
sympathetic  statement  of  the  good  qualities  of  Spanish  "comedias" :  "Ma 
non  lasciamo  di  dire  che  se  essi  al  loro  sale  nativo,  alia  vivacita  e  fecon- 
dita  deir  immaginazione,  alia  predilezione  che  hanno  pel  teatro  accopiato 
avessero  un  prudente  timore  di  offendere  la  verisimiglianza  e  si  fossero 
appigliati  ad  uno  stile  piu  conveniente  al  genere,  avrebbero  forse  in  tal 
carriera  superati  i  loro  vicini  e  i  lontani."  -°^ 

By  this  we  see  that  Signorelli  and  Bourgoing,  who  represent  the 

206  Storia  Critica  De'  Teatri  Antichi  e  Moderni  di  Pietro  Signorelli.  In 
Napoli,  1789,  v.  IV,  p.  83. 

207  Signorelli,  v.  IV,  p.  281. 


148  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

higher  class  of  foreign  critics  interested  in  the  neo-classic  controversy, 
had  just  about  the  same  opinions,  consisting  in  a  liberal  part  of  admira- 
tion for  Spanish  genius  to  which  they  added  the  expression  of  their  dis- 
appointment at  the  thought  that  no  adequate  discipline  ever  guided  such 
brilliant  qualities. 

Since  we  have  undertaken  to  review,  in  this  section  of  our  study, 
the  main  facts  of  the  international  aspect  of  the  neo-classic  struggle  in 
Spain,  we  may  well,  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  mention  two  or  three 
more  authors  who  undertook  the  defense  of  their  country  against  the 
attack  directed  against  it  by  badly  informed  foreigners. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  gratuitous  insult  flung  at  Spain  by 
a  Frenchman  bearing  the  name  of  Masson  who  contributed  to  the  "Nou- 
velle  Encyclopedic"  an  article  on  the  land  of  Lope  and  Cervantes.  "Que 
doit-on  a  I'Espagne?"  exclaimed  that  gentleman  in  his  essay,  "et  depuis 
deux  siecles,  depuis  quatre,  depuis  dix  qu'a-t-elle  fait  pour  I'Europe?'' 
This  absurd  prologue  was  enough  to  exasperate  all  true  Spaniards  who 
felt,  and  rightly  enough,  that  their  country  had  been  insulted  in  the 
face  of  all  Europe. 

The  scandal  caused  by  the  article  of  the  tactless  Frenchman  had  its 
echo  even  in  Germany  where  an  Italian  priest  residing  at  the  court  of 
Frederic  the  Great  read  in  1786,  on  the  King's  birthday,  a  discourse 
intended  to  rehabilitate  Spain  in  the  eyes  of  Europe. 

Father  Denina. — In  his  address  Father  Denina  did  not  hesitate  to 
admit  the  relative  inferiority  of  contemporary  Spain  when  compared 
to  her  neighbors  but  he  grew  indignant  at  the  thought  that  the  glorious 
past  of  that  country  should  have  been  ignored  by  a  citizen  of  the  one 
nation  who  owed  most  to  that  past.*  Denina  set  out  to  make  a  rapid  re- 
view of  Spanish  civilization  mentioning  first  that  nation's  unquestioned 
leadership  in  religious  matters  and  then  opposing  to  the  names  of  the 
most  important  scholars  and  authors  of  Europe  Spanish  thinkers  equally 
prominent  in  the  same  branches.  Convarrucio  preceded  Cujas,  medicine 
flourished  in  Spain  (through  the  Arabs)  when  the  rest  of  Europe  knew 
none  of  its  principles,  and  it  was  under  the  Spanish  rule  that  anatomical 
studies  were  most  flourishing  in  the  Low  Countries.  Descartes  was  a 
great  genius  but  he  owed  much  to  Pereira  Gomez.  When  France  boasted 
of  Bude,  and  Flanders  of  Erasmus,  Spain  had  the  philosopher  Luis 
Yives.* 

In  purely  literary  matters,  Spain  held  her  rank  even  more  easily  than 
in  other  forms  of  intellectual  activity. 

Who  could  deny  the  superiority  of  either  Villena  or  Santillana  over 
Charles  d'Orleans,  or  that  of  Boscan  and  Garcilaso  over  the  poets  of  the 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   CONTROVERSY  149 

Pleiade  ?    Besides,  according  to  Denina,  France  had  never  possessed  any 
epic  poems,  whereas  the  genre  had  flourished  in  Spain. 

At  least  as  strange  as  the  remark  just  reported  was  the  way  Denina 
accounted  for  the  interest  shown  by  Francis  I  in  intellectual  and  artistic 
matters.  That  monarch,  he  claims,  harbored  his  new  ideals  during  his 
enforced  stay  in  Madrid  and  thus  the  French  Renaissance  would  have 
been  in  part  of  Spanish  origin  !* 

On  the  matter  of  the  Spanish  drama,  Denina  gave  nearly  the  argu- 
ments already  expounded  by  Lampillas  and  which  seem  to  have  found 
frequent  utterance  towards  the  end  of  the  century :  "Quand  on  reproche 
aux  Espagnols  I'irregularite  de  leurs  pieces  de  Theatre"  said  Denina  "on 
devrait  faire  une  reflexion  qui  les  excuse.  Les  moeurs  ont  prodigieuse- 
ment  change  .  .  .  ces  unites  tant  inculquees  ne  sont  plus  soutenables  et 
les  Espagnols  ont  cru  que  Ton  pourrait  plaire  et  instruire  sans  se  gener  a 
ce  point."  ^°^ 

The  fame  of  this  discourse  traveled  from  Germany  to  Spain  and 
Pablo  Forner  saw  one  more  opportunity  to  cry  out  against  science  and  the 
rest  of  Europe  by  composing  an  apology  of  Denina's  discourse. 

This  work  of  Forner  is  not  literary  but  religious  and  moral.  As 
must  have  become  evident  to  the  reader  of  this  study,  the  time  had  come 
when  the  neo-classic  movement  in  the  course  of  its  evolution  had  passed 
out  of  the  literary  field,  in  which  it  had  started,  to  extend  to  nearly  all  the 
other  fields  of  intellectual  activity  as  well  as  to  matters  of  religion.  By 
gradually  leaving  the  discussion  of  the  good  and  bad  points  of  the  three 
unities  it  had  taken  the  road  followed  by  the  French  "philosophes."  By 
slow  degrees  it  had  become  the  weapon  of  those  who  wished  to  reform 
the  state  and  the  church.  If  we  quote  from  Forner's  apology  it  is  only 
because  we  are  thus  enabled  to  illustrate  the  last  stages  in  the  evolution 
which  we  have  just  mentioned.* 

Voltaire  had  said  somewhere  that  in  Spain  "no  one  thought"  and 
Forner, taking  that  "boutade"  as  a  fair  equivalent  of  the  spirit  of  Masson's 
article,  had  indignantly  developed  it  as  follows :  "No  se  piensa  en  Espana, 
asi  es ;  no  se  piensa  en  derribar  las  aras  que  la  humana  necesidad,  guiada 
por  una  infalible  revelacion,  ha  levantado  al  Arbitro  del  universo."  ^''^  He 
warns  Spaniards  against  the  imposture  of  science,  the  fraud  underlying 
the  apparent  truths  taught  by  mathematics;  and  feeling  that  his  argu- 
ment contains  too  many  negatives,  he  concludes  with  these  words  de- 


208  Denina,  p.  35. 

209  Oracion  Apologetica  Por  la  Espana  y  su  Merito  Literario.  Para  que  sirva 
de  exornacion  al  Discurso  leido  por  el  Abate  Denina,  etc.  Por  Don  Juan  Pablo 
Forner,  1786,  p.  19. 


150  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

scribing  Spain  as  "Una  nacion,  cuya  nautica  y  arte  militar  ha  dado  a 
Europa,  en  vez  de  un  sofiado  y  arido  mundo  Cartesiano,  un  mundo  real 
y  efectivo,  manantial  perenne  de  riqnezas."  ^'^ 

Denina's  essay  was  not  received  with  praise  by  all  Spaniards.  It  was 
reviewed  by  the  "Censor"  in  its  CXIIIth  article  and  treated  very  severely 
by  the  representatives  of  those  Spaniards  who  felt  that  the  only  way  to 
prepare  for  the  regeneration  of  Spain  was  first  to  let  all  the  truth 
be  known  no  matter  how  dark  a  picture  was  to  be  the  result.  Arguments 
like  those  offered  by  Denina,  though  they  showed  the  good  intention  of 
that  author,  were  untimely  and  dangerous.  Spaniards  must  know  and 
admit  the  worst.  Only  a  complete  realization  of  their  extreme  weakness 
will  drive  them  to  making  efforts  necessary  to  regain  the  glory  which  they 
lost  through  vanity  and  sloth.  The  editors  of  the  "Censor"  spoke  bitterly 
of  "una  cierta  teologia,  una  cierta  moral,  una  cierta  jurisprudencia,  y  una 
cierta  politica  que  nos  han  hecho  ignorantes  y  nos  tienen  pobres."* 

To  all  this,  Forner  retorted  with  the  argument  that  Spain  was  none 
the  less  the  most  faithful  daughter  of  Rome.  When  the  "Censor"  men- 
tioned the  poverty  of  Spain,  Forner  exclaimed :  "Look  on  our  spiritual 
leadership,  Spain  is  still  the  land  of  St.  Augustine." 

Truly  these  matters  have  taken  us  far  afield.  We  are  a  long  way 
from  literary  criticism.  In  part  to  return  to  our  field  of  study,  in  part  to 
conclude  our  review  of  those  foreigners  who  expressed  opinions  on  the 
literary  struggle  which  was  going  on  among  their  Spanish  neighbors,  we 
may  well  conclude  with  a  quotation  from  the  one  Frenchman  who  seems 
to  have  always  looked  on  Spain  with  an  eye  of  love.  We  refer  to  the 
fabulist  Florian,  the  imitator  of  Iriarte.  The  following  lines  in  praise  of 
the  ill-fated  play  "Los  Menestrales"  composed  by  the  poet  Trigueros 
show  that  Florian  did  not  realize  the  importance  of  the  resistance  offered 
to  the  neo-classic  movement  by  the  popular  party  in  Spain. 

The  fact  that  we  know  how  relative  and  precarious  was  the  progress 
of  the  disciples  of  Luzan  will  make  the  quotation  only  the  more  interest- 
ing to  us.  In  addition  it  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  finish  this  review  of 
vvorks  which  contained  so  much  bitterness  and  irony  with  words  breath- 
ing good  will  and  optimism.  These  were  the  lines  in  which  Florian  ex- 
pressed his  naive  faith  in  Spain's  classicism : 

Entrez  dans  ces  Academies 

Dont  les  lumieres  reunies 

Dirigent  les  naissants  auteurs. 

Feuilletez  leurs  litterateurs. 

Deja  I'art  dramatique  a  franchi  son  aurore: 


210  Ibid.,  p.  74. 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   CONTROVERSY  151 

Un  plat  bouffon  n'est  plus  au  nombre  des  acteurs. 

Leur  langue  grave,  energique,  sonore 

N'admet  plus  dans  les  vers  Tobscure  metaphore 

L'enflure  gigantesque  et  le  faux  colons. 

L'invention  a  prete  a  chaque  personnage 

Des  traits  divers,  mais  propres  et  precis ; 

L'interet  n'est  plus  I'assemblage 

Du  concours  prodigue  d'incidents  inouis. 

Et  des  trois  unites  le  precepte  si  sage 

Meprise  trop  longtemps  a  gagne  le  suffrage 

Des  gens  de  goiit,  des  beaux  esprits. 

Oeuvres  de  Trigueros,  vous  m'en  etes  un  gage. 

Vous  honneur  du  Toscan  rivage, 

A  nos  recents  auteurs  qui  ravissez  le  prix, 

Goldoni,  Zeno,  Metastase, 

Un  rival  vous  est  ne  sur  les  bords  du  Betis. 

C'est  dans  ce  cristal  pur  que  s'abreuve  Pegase : 

Et  par  dela  ces  monts,  emules  du  Caucase, 

Va  succeder  au  siecle  de  Louis 

Le  siecle  de  son  Petit  Fils.^^^ 

Even  though  expressed  in  pretty  wretched  verse  so  much  enthusiasm 
for  the  supposed  greatness  of  Spain  and  such  a  naive  faith  in  her  future 
ought  to  atone  at  least  in  part  for  the  insulting  tone  of  Masson's  article 
in  "La  Nouvelle  Encyclopedic." 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIL 

p.  134.  L.  F.  de  Moratin's  play.  "El  Baron."  played  in  1803.  was  nearly  run 
off  the  stage  by  the  mob  at  first,  the  rest  of  the  audience  regaining  control  after  a 
time.  "La  Mogigata"  was  rather  well  received  in  1804,  while  "El  Si  de  las  Ninas" 
in  1806  thoroughly  pleased  the  people.  (These  details  can  be  found  in  the  prefaces 
of  the  plays  in  the  edition  of  1830.) 

P.  134.  For  instance,  in  "Iriarte  y  su  Epoca."  p.  399:  "asi  es  que  dos  anos 
despues  se  presento  'El  Cafe,'  el  publico  hallo  tan  insufrible  como  nosotros  hoy 
su  Don  Pedro  de  Aguilar  que  no  cesa  de  predicarlos"— (the  N.  C.  precepts).  Also 
cf.  the  author's  monograph  on  Maria  Ladevenant.  In  work  on  "La  Tirana," 
Cotarelo  y  Mori  says  that  the  "Comedia  Nueva"  had  no  influence,  but  refers  to  it 
as  "la  admirable  satira  dramatica,"  p.  240. 

P.  136.  Bourgoing.  v.  I.  p.  347.  Samanicgo  mi;kes  about  the  same  remarks, 
p.  90  of  ed.  by  Apraiz.  He  feels  that  the  "sainetes"  emphasize  too  much  the  low 
ideals  of  certain  classes— "Quien  duda  que  a  estos  modelos  se  debe  tambien  aquel 
resabio  de  'majismo'  que  afectan  hasta  las  personas  mas  ilustres  de  la  corte?" 

P.  138.  Ensayo  Historico— Apologetico  de  la  Literatura  Espanola  contra  las 
opiniones  preocupadas   de  Algunos  escritores  modernos   Italianos.     Disertaciones 


211  Cited  by  Sempere  y  Guarinos.     Ensayo  de  una  Biblioteca,  etc.,  v.  VL  PP- 
100-102.    The  last  two  lines  do  not  seem  to  have  been  quoted  correctly. 


152  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

del  Abate  Don  Xavier  Lampillas.    Traducido  del  Italiano  por  Dona  Josefa  Amor 
y  Borbon.     Madrid  1789.     7  vols. 

P.  139.  Lampillas,  Prologue,  v.  I. — "Igualmcnte  es  reprehensible  querer  que 
todo  lo  nuestro  sea  lo  mejor  y  que  por  mantener  esta  necia  quimera  se  ban  de 
sucitar  frequentes  disputas,  y  turbar  las  conversaciones  si  alguno  la  contradice, 
mas  quando  se  ofende  a  la  nacion  entera,  quando  se  quiere  creer  universal  la  igno- 
rancia  y  la  barbarie,  quando  se  atribuye  a  efectos  del  clima  la  corrupcion  de  las 
ciencias ;  en  este  caso  no  puede  ser  notado  de  parcial  ni  preocupado  el  que  toma 
la  defensa  de  la  patria;  antes  bien  lo  contrario  seria  cobardia  digna  de  castigo  y 
el  silencio  una  confirmacion  del  concepto  errado  en  que  estaban  los  contrarios." 

P.  140.  These  statements  are  quoted  by  Lampillas,  v.  H,  p.  194,  from  Tira- 
boschi :  "Esta  ingeniosa  nacion  .  .  .  estoy  por  decir  que  tiene  una  propension  casi 
natural,  y  como  procedida  del  clima,  a  las  sutilezas,  por  lo  que  ha  tenido  tantos 
escolaticos  famosos  y  tan  pocos  oradores  y  poetas."  Bettinelli  is  quoted,  v.  I,  p.  4: 
"Espana  es  naturalmente  inclinada  casi  por  influxo  del  clima  a  la  sutileza ;  lo  qual 
es  causa  de  que  haya  tenido  pocos  poetas  y  oradores  celebres."  It  looks  very  much 
as  if  one  of  these  authors  had  merely  copied  the  other. 

P.  142.  Linguet,  Simon  Nicolas  Henri,  1736-1794.  Famous  lawyer  who  op- 
posed the  encyclopedists,  defended  the  Jesuits,  tried  to  play  a  part  in  the  Revolution 
and  was  executed.  When  in  the  service  of  the  prince  of  Beauveau  he  went  to 
Spain  (1762  or  1763)  and  became  so  enthusiastic  over  the  works  of  Lope  and  Cal- 
deron  that  he  translated  some  of  their  comedies. 

P.  142.  Samaniego  in  his  reply  to  Cosme  Damian  used  as  his  text  these 
words  of  Cervantes,  Quijote,  Part  I,  ch.  xlviii — "Porque  los  extranjeros,  que  con 
mucha  punctualidad  guarden  las  leyes  de  la  comedia  nos  tienen  por  barbaros  € 
ignorantes  viendo  los  disparates  y  absurdos  de  las  que  hacemos." 

P.  144.  "iY  como  es  facil  por  otra  parte  que  este  divino  fuego  acompane 
los  espiritus  de  unas  gentes  criadas  en  tierras  flojas,  pantanosas,  faltas  de  azufre, 
sales  y  substancia  y  tan  poco  favorecidas  del  calor  de  Phebo,  que  a  penas 
madurarian  en  muchas  de  ellas  sus  frutos,  si  la  industria  no  les  levantase  del  suelo 
disponiendolos  de  modo  que  puedan  recibir  mas  de  lleno  los  rayos  y  calor  del  sol 
que  en  no  pocas  de  las  Provincias  de  la  Francia,  si  acaso  se  descubren  tal  qual 
vez,  no  tienen  la  bastante  fuerza,  para  fomentar  ni  dar  sazon  a  la  mayor  parte  de 
las  plantas? 

"De  este  principio  y  causa  natural  proviene  aquella  mediocridad  que  se  observa 
en  las  mas  Obras  de  ingenio  de  los  Franceses  quienes  seguramente  jamas  alcan- 
zaron  en  la  Poesia  y  Eloquencia  mas  que  aquella  mediania  correcta  propia  de 
ingenios  debiles  y  poco  vigorosos."    Prologo,  pp.  52-53. 

P.  144.  Huerta,  Pr61ogo,  p.  105.  The  linguistic  limitations  of  Voltaire  in 
Spanish  and  in  other  tongues  are  commented  upon  in  no  measured  terms  by 
Giuseppe  Baretti  in  the  "Frusta  letteraria,"  No.  8,  v.  I  of  "Opere,"  p.  249: — "Vol- 
taire ha  voluto  trinciarla  da  gran  sultano  in  lingua  toscana,  sentenziando  assai 
volte  ora  in  favore  e  ora  contro  di  noi.  Ma  quelle  sue  sentenze  ...  o  in  favore 
o  contro  che  ne  fossero  .  .  .  provano  molto  evidentemente,  che  Voltaire  sa  poco 
piij  toscano  di  quel  que  basti  para  capire  che  Gerusalemme  Liberata  vuol  dir  Jerusa- 
lem Delivree  .  .  .  Voltaire  sa  la  lingua  italiana  a  un  dipresso  come  sa  la  giapponese. 
La  poca  fedelta  di  Voltaire  nel  tradurre  un  passo  tratto  dall'  'Araucana'  d'Ercilla, 
e  r  invocazione  alle  Ninfe  del  Tago  da  esso  fatta  di  propria  invenzione,  e  quindi 
supposta  a  Camoens,  mi  sono,  come  dissi  gia,  convicentissime  prove,  ch'  egli  intende 


ACUTE  STAGES   IN  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   CONTROVERSY  153 

lo  spagnuolo  e  il  portoghese  quanto  gli  elefanti  del  gran  Mogollo."  Continues  to 
prove  that  Voltaire's  knowledge  of  English  was  equally  uncertain.  Quoted  by 
D'Ancona  e  Bacci.     V.  IV,  p.  375. 

P.  146.  Answer  to  Cosme  Damian.  Note  to  page  xxx.  On  "La  Numancia" 
.  .  .  "mezcla  de  personas  reales  y  alegoricas  que  mancomuna  en  la  accion.  Los 
personages  con  nombre  propio  ascienden  al  numero  de  20  sin  contar  un  Muerto  que 
sale  de  su  sepultura  y  despues  de  decir  treinta  y  dos  endecasilabos  se  vuelve  a 
embocar  en  ella"  .  .  .  ambassadors,  governors — ("los  que  hablan  mucho  mas")  2 
priests,  4  women,  etc.,  etc. 

P.  146.  Ibid.,  p.  xi.  "No  apruebo  las  Comedias  desatinadas,  esto  es  aquellas 
en  que  se  hallan  las  monstruosidades  que  Cervantes  censura;  las  comedias  de  mi 
Coleccion  no  tienen  ni  tendran  semejantes  absurdos." 

P.  146.  Huerta,  in  addition  to  the  slur  cast  at  Signorelli  which  we  have 
already  quoted,  had  said  when  dealing  with  the  antiquity  of  the  Spanish  stage: 
"pero  yo  no  habiendo  jamas  dudado  que  nuestro  Theatro  fue  el  primero  que 
apareco  mas  correcto  en  Europa  despues  del  restablecimiento  de  las  letras  y  no 
habiendo  ya  ningiin  preocupado  Frances  ni  Italiano  (que  es  mas)  que  no  confiese 
esta  verdad  a  pesar  de  las  garrulidades  con  que  el  Doctor  Signorelli  quiso  sostener 
la  negativa  en  algiin  tiempo."     (Cosme  Damian,  p.  xvi.) 

P.  147.  Signorelli,  p.  65.  .  .  .  "io  stimo  che  non  mai  quest'  erudito  da  buon 
senno  presto  fede  egli  stesso  a  quel  che  si  sforzo  di  persuadere  agli  altri." 

P.  148.  Reponse  a  la  Question  "Que  doit-on  a  I'Espagne."  Discours  lu  a 
I'Academie  de  Berlin  dans  I'Assemblee  publique  du  26  Janvier  1786  pour  le  jour  de 
I'Anniversaire  du  Roi.     Par  Mr.  L'Abbe  Denina.     Printed  in  Madrid,  pp.  1-19. 

P.  148.  Denina,  p.  20.  "Mais  n'est-ce  pas  apres  son  retour  de  Madrid  qu'il 
s'attacha  a  faire  fleurir  ces  arts,  soit  qu'il  les  ait  trouves  deja  plus  avances  en 
Espagne,  soit  que  les  reflexions  qu'il  eut  le  loisir  de  faire  aient  dij  le  porter  a 
chercher  la  gloire  dans  les  arts  pacifiques  plutot  que  dans  les  entreprises  militaires?" 

P.  149.  Reponse  a  la  question,  etc.,  Part  XI,  p.  82.  "La  ciencia  legitima  debe 
consistir  en  saber  que  debe  a  su  animo,  que  a  su  cuerpo ;  6  lo  que  es  lo  mismo, 
como  ha  de  mantener  la  recta  constitucion  de  su  ser,  etc."  Religion  and  morals 
are  the  perfecting  powers  of  man;  Spain  is  in  these  supreme,  hence  is  supreme  in 
science. 

P.  150.  El  Censor — Obra  Periodica.  Aladrid,  1781.  Defends  rationalism  in 
Literature,  then  uses  rationalism  to  preach  political  doctrines  distinctly  socialistic 
and  revolutionary.  French  "encyclopedisme"  and  "esprit  philosophique"  quite  un- 
diluted. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

The  Last  Stages  of  the  Neo-Classic  Movement. 

JOVELLANOS    AND    SaMANIEGO. 

Our  study  of  the  literary  skirmishing  which  the  misdirected  interest 
of  certain  foreigners  brought  about  as  soon  as  it  came  to  the  notice  of 
jingoistic  Spaniards  has  made  us  deal  with  a  series  of  men  none  of 
whom  were  endowed  with  talents  which  could  raise  them  very  much 
above  mediocrity.  These  men  of  small  parts  easily  resolved  themselves 
into  two  classes.  One  of  these  may  be  typified  by  Garcia  de  la  Huerta, 
for  whom  neo-classicism  was  a  foreign  thing,  and,  as  such,  intolerable. 
The  other  class  was  made  up  of  journalists  of  the  type  of  Clavijo  y 
Fajardo  who  viewed  all  artistic  matters  through  the  peep  hole  of  pure 
reason  and  for  whom,  naturally,  what  was  not  neo-classic  in  literature 
was  bad. 

While  this  uncompromising  attitude  was  always  more  marked  among 
the  lesser  lights  engaged  in  the  neo-classic  controversy  it  will  not  do  to 
make  it  typical  of  them  alone.  To  be  sure,  at  the  beginning  of  that 
literary  quarrel,  and  also  in  its  advanced  stages,  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  III,  we  have  met  over  and  over  again  with  marked  examples 
of  liberality  and  freedom  from  dogmatism  in  the  leaders  of  the  neo- 
classic  movement. 

As  the  end  of  the  century  drew  nearer  and  as  the  higher  class  of 
Spaniards  became  more  and  more  cosmopolitan,  this  tendency  to  literary 
liberalism  waned  perceptibly.  The  leaders  of  the  movement  lost  more 
and  more  their  sympathy  towards  the  old  Castilian  literary  genres,  grow- 
ing proportionately  more  rigid  in  the  application  of  the  neo-classic  tenets. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  men  who  led  the  movement  during  the 
last  few  years  of  the  century  exhibited  a  narrow-mindedness  as  great  as 
that  shown  by  the  least  sympathetic  foreigners  who  had,  at  an  earlier 
date,  undertaken  to  show  to  enlightened  Europe  the  deplorable  state  of 
literature  in  the  peninsula. 

Among  these  leaders  who  lay  prone  before  the  Goddess  Reason 
were  men  of  such  unquestionable  superiority  as  Jovellanos  and 
Samaniego. 

Jovellanos. — Jovellanos  has  remained  as  the  most  perfect  type  of 
"philosophe"  produced  by  Spain.  As  a  writer  of  tragic  plays,  as  a  phil- 
anthropist, as  a  practical  man  of  science  and  as  a  statesman  with  strong 


156  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

tendencies  to  liberalism,  he  personified  the  best  and  most  advanced  forms 
of  the  various  intellectual  movements  which  had  modified  Spanish  life 
gradually  throughout  the  eighteenth  century.  His  advanced  views  in 
social  and  political  matters  did  not  prevent  his  being  a  most  patriotic 
Spaniard,  and  his  extremely  severe  attitude  toward  the  literary  past  of 
his  country  was  simply  a  form  of  his  patriotism. 

Though  consistently  patriotic,  the  views  of  Jovellanos  had  not  been 
consistently  extreme  throughout  his  career.  While  still  a  young  man  he 
had  been  led  to  make  the  customary  defense  of  the  Spanish  drama  be- 
cause it  fell  to  his  lot  to  meet  personally  with  the  impertinence  of  a  typi- 
cal French  critic  of  that  period. 

This  occurred  in  1777  and  arose  from  the  correspondence  which 
Jovellanos  had  with  one  Valcrestien  who  had  translated  into  French  his 
"Delincuente  Honrado."  Valcrestien  felt  that  the  character  of  Don 
Simon,  in  the  play  of  Jovellanos,  was  not  sufficiently  consistent  with 
itself,  and  that  the  last  act  was  too  slow  in  its  development.  He  had 
graciously  mended  these  slight  defects  and  in  his  letter  to  the  author,  to 
pour  oil  on  the  wounds  possibly  caused  by  his  action,  he  had  said  in  a 
patronizing  tone  "votre  piece  est  trop  bonne  pour  lui  laisser  aucun  de- 
faut."  * 

This  done,  the  Frenchman  who  had  visited  Spain  at  an  earlier 
period  proceeded  to  pass  the  usual  condemnations  on  the  Spanish  stage 
in  terms  which  showed  but  too  clearly  his  inability  to  understand  the 
truly  great  qualities  of  the  Spanish  dramatic  genius. 

Jovellanos,  without  losing  his  temper  under  the  pressure  of  such  an 
accumulation  of  impertinences,  replied  with  modesty  on  the  points  touch- 
ing his  play  and  with  marked  impartiality  on  the  general  subject  of  the 
Spanish  stage.  Had  the  worthy  foreigner  asked  the  help  of  those  who 
were  qualified  to  guide  him  in  his  literary  investigation,  he  would  have 
been  directed  to  the  best  works  of  Calderon,  Moreto,  Zamora,  and  Cafii- 
zares.  Instead  he  merely  attended  the  public  theatres  of  the  day  and 
looked  for  the  Spanish  form  of  "bon  gout"  from  those  who  did  not  pos- 
sess the  elements  of  it,  that  is  from  the  vulgar  and  the  kind  of  drama 
that  satisfied  it.  "Del  buen,  6  mal  gusto  de  una  nacion  no  deben  decidir 
las  ideas  del  vulgo  sino  las  de  las  personas  cultas  y  literatas.  En  todas 
partes  el  vulgo  es  ciego  y  mal  estimador  de  las  cosas  que  no  conoce:  y 
yo  juzgo  que  la  diferencia  entre  una  nacion  generalmente  culta  y  otra 
que  no  lo  es  del  todo  no  consiste  en  que  la  primera  tenga  buen  gusto,  y 
la  segunda  no,  sino  que  en  la  una  el  buen  gusto  este  mas  propagado 
que  en  la  otra;  6  lo  que  viene  a  ser  lo  mismo,  que  en  una  haya  mas 
vulgo  y  en  otra  menos."  ^^^ 

212  Jovellanos,  v.  VII,  p.  111. 


THE  LAST  STAGES  OF  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  157 

Thus  Jovellanos  defends  his  country  and,  at  the  same  time,  admits 
the  truth  of  the  traditional  accusations  made  against  its  Hterature.  His 
state  of  mind  does  not  differ  materially  from  that  of  many  of  the  neo- 
classic  leaders  whom  we  have  considered  so  far.  Wherein  he  does  show 
some  originality  is  in  his  exposing  without  any  reservations  the  detri- 
mental effect  on  Spanish  letters  of  the  prominence  given  to  the  lower 
classes  in  the  field  of  literary  criticism.  The  intellectual  lower  class  is  still 
numerous  and  active ;  it  is  more  than  a  match  for  the  few  partisans 
of  good  taste.  Still  the  day  is  coming  when  the  trained  and  thought- 
ful classes  will  make  their  standards  prevail  over  the  enthusiastic  but  mis- 
guided judgments  of  the  present  rulers  of  the  Spanish  Parnassus.  "Son 
mas  en  numero,  estan  bien  hallados  con  el,  (el  mal  gusto)  se  burlan  de  los 
que  piensan  de  otro  modo  y  los  sefialan  con  el  dedo.  En  fin,  entre  Vds. 
quien  combate  las  preocupaciones  comunes  es  un  hombre  celoso,  entre 
nosotros  suele  pasar  por  entusiasta.  Pero  esto  pasara.  La  luz  de  la  ilus- 
tracion  no  tiene  un  movimiento  tan  rapido  como  la  del  sol;  pero  cuando 
una  vez  ha  rayado  sobre  algun  hemisferio,  se  difunde,  aunque  lentamente, 
hasta  llenar  los  mas  lejanos  horizontes;  y  6  yo  conozco  mal  mi  nacion,  6 
este  fenomeno  va  ya  apareciendo  en  ella."  ^^^ 

This  optimism  of  Jovellanos,  who  in  1777  was  ready  to  defend  at 
least  parts  of  the  national  drama,  seems  to  have  received  some  severe 
blows  during  the  two  decades  that  foUow^ed. 

In  the  semi-ofiicial  document  in  which  in  1790  he  had  studied  the 
possibility  of  a  legal  and  governmental  control  of  the  dramatic  activities 
of  the  city  of  Madrid,  we  find  that  Jovellanos  has  been  compelled,  by  the 
logic  of  the  situation,  to  accept  conclusions  which  he  surely  would  not 
have  countenanced  when  his  faith  in  pure  reason  was  not  yet  fully  de- 
veloped. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  this  "Memoria"*  we  are  rather  amazed  to  find 
that  Jovellanos,  whose  theories  seemed  quite  reasonable  in  1777,  has  been 
driven  by  logical  deductions  from  his  premises  to  a  position  of  incredible 
narrowness.  Had  Jovellanos  simply  stated  his  lack  of  sympathy  with  the 
ideals  of  the  illiterate  or  uneducated  classes,  no  intelligent  person  could 
have  found  fault  with  an  attitude  which  merely  resolved  itself  into  a  pref- 
erence for  higher  as  against  lower  standards  of  art.  But  the  minute  that 
Jovellanos  passed  from  theoretical  discussions  to  an  attempt  to  apply  his 
principles  we  find  that  he  became  very  narrow  and  exhibited  a  tendency 
to  real  tyranny. 

From  the  reading  of  the  "Memoria,"  it  becomes  evident  that  Jovella- 
nos had  at  that  date  reached  conclusions  similar  to  the  opinions  of  the 


213  Jovellanos,  v.  VII,  p.  111.    Letter  dated  Sept.  13,  1777.     Sevilla. 


158  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

opponents  of  the  Abbe  Denina  who  felt  that,  while  there  was  much  in 
Spanish  civilization  that  deserved  praise,  praise  was  not  what  the  emer- 
gency of  the  moment  demanded.  What  was  needed  was  blame,  severe 
and  unrestricted. 

To  Jovellanos  then,  the  enumeration  of  the  good  qualities  of  great 
Spanish  writers  only  served  to  strengthen  the  faith  of  the  common  people 
in  the  excellence  of  the  inferior  authors  whom  they  admired,  while  criti- 
cism of  their  faults  passed  absolutely  unnoticed.  In  dealing  with  minds 
who,  out  of  a  fair  argument,  picked  out  only  those  parts  which  favored 
their  position,  quite  ignoring  the  others,  reasonable  and  fair  as  they  might 
be,  the  only  method  of  procedure  was  to  adopt  an  attitude  equally  unfair. 
Thus  in  the  "Memoria"  we  have  an  attack  on  the  Spanish  drama  more 
complete  and  more  relentless  than  any  other  which  we  have  met  so  far. 
Jovellanos,  like  the  editors  of  the  "Diario,"  found  it  impossible  to  keep  to 
a  moderate  course  as  soon  as  he  passed  from  theory  to  practice.  In  an 
eloquent  passage  preceding  the  discussion  of  practical  methods  of  control 
over  the  theatres,  Jovellanos  brands  the  Spanish  stage  of  the  sixteenth 
century  as  a  school  of  immorality  and  folly,  exclaiming  at  the  end  of  his 
arraignment :  "Confesemoslo  de  buena  fe,un  teatro  tal  es  una  peste  publica, 
y  el  Gobierno  no  tiene  mas  alternativa  que  reformarle,  6  proscribirle  para 
siempre  !*  .  .  ."  "Es  por  lo  mismo  necesario,"  he  adds  later,  "sustituir  a 
estos  dramas  otros  capaces  de  deleitar,  instruir,  presentando  ejemplos  y 
documentos  que  perfeccionen  el  espiritu  y  el  corazon.  .  .  .  He  aqui  el 
grande  objeto  de  la  legislacion.  Perfeccionar  en  todas  sus  partes  este 
espectaculo,  formando  un  teatro  donde  puedan  verse  continuos  y  heroicos 
ejemplos  de  reverencia  al  ser  supremo,  y  a  la  religion  de  nuestros  padres, 
de  amor  a  la  patria.  .  .  .  Los  medios  no  son  dificiles  .  .  .  establezcanse 
dos  premios  anuales  de  cien  doblones,  y  una  medalla  de  oro."  -^*  .  .  . 
Now  we  have  it !  This  is  the  lowest  ebb  to  which  pitiless  logic  could  drag 
the  neo-classic  ideas.  The  state,  legislation,  wise  counselors,  all  the  sanc- 
timonious apparatus  of  paternalism,  the  surest  methods  to  throttle  art,  are 
called  up  to  the  rescue  of  Spain. 

Luzan  had  already  hinted  at  the  advisability  of  governmental  inter- 
ference in  literary  matters  pure  and  simple.  This  tendency  had  reap- 
peared with  N.  F.  de  Moratin,  who  had  brought  about  the  abolishing  of  a 
whole  genre  by  law.  It  reached  its  full  development  in  the  plan  of  Jovella- 
nos who,  in  his  turn,  called  on  the  government  to  reinstate  art  by  ordi- 
nances and  by  offering  rewards  to  those  writers  who  would  follow  the 
paths  proved  by  reason  and  authority  to  be  the  proper  ones. 

This  attempt  to  prop  up  the  neo-classic  reforms,  not  by  persuasion 

214  Jovellanos,  v.  IV,  p.  83. 


THE  LAST  STAGES  OF  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  159 

and  gradual  education,  but  by  way  of  governmental  interference,  discred- 
its the  whole  movement  in  our  own  eyes.  We  may  well  imagine  how 
disastrous  to  its  success  was  the  effect  on  contemporaries.  Neo-classicism 
became  synonymous  with  petty  tyranny  and  the  basest  form  of  adminis- 
trative prosiness.  Its  natural  opponents  who  had  attacked  it  merely  be- 
cause of  its  foreign  origin  had  at  last  a  mighty  weapon  to  wield  against 
it.  Their  party  gained  in  dignity  in  proportion  as  neo-classicism  was  be- 
littled by  this  mention  of  governmental  tutelage. 

Yet  many  of  the  reforms  suggested  by  Jovellanos  were  most  reason- 
able and  most  necessary.  For  instance,  we  can  not  but  praise  him  for 
hinting  that  if  the  spectators  who  had  to  stand  by  the  hour  in  the  "patio" 
were  provided  with  decent  seats,  the  rowdyism  which  prevailed  so  often 
in  that  part  of  the  audience  would  naturally  disappear.*  His  attack  on 
scenery  was  but  the  echo  of  the  complaint  on  the  subject  begun  by  Monti- 
ano  and  was  undoubtedly  warranted.  His  plan  to  make  playhouses  finan- 
cially independent  can  not  but  receive  the  highest  praise.  But  how 
unfortunate  to  have  relied  so  much  on  the  government  and  to  have  sug- 
gested that  the  glorious  drama  of  Spain  could  be  replaced  by  the  works 
of  authors  in  whom  inspiration  could  be  awakened  by  offers  of  medals 
and  of  purses  of  gold ! 

There  is  apparently  an  amazing  contradiction  in  the  essay  of  Jovella- 
nos. Before  coming  to  the  enumeration  of  the  many  ways  by  means  of 
which  the  stage  ought  to  be  checked  and  controlled  by  the  government. 
he  had  described  vividly  the  depressing  effect  on  the  common  people 
caused  by  an  excess  of  police  regulations. 

While  dealing  with  the  general  subject  of  amusements,  he  had 
pointed  out  that  in  certain  rural  districts,  holidays  were  turned  into  days 
of  gloom  by  needless  ordinances  which  interfered  with  the  peasants'  right 
to  gather  in  groups,  to  dance  or  to  sing  in  public.  Just  for  that  reason, 
said  Jovellanos,  many  of  the  most  important  feast  days  were  spent  unat- 
tended by  any  real  jollity.  "En  los  dias  solemnes  en  vez  de  alegria  y 
bullicio  que  debieran  anunciar  el  contento  de  sus  moradores,  reina  en  las 
calles  y  plazas  una  perezosa  inaccion,  un  triste  silencio,  que  no  se  pueden 
advertir  sin  admiracion  ni  lastima.  Si  algunas  personas  salen  de  sus  casas, 
no  parece  sino  que  el  tedio  y  la  ociosidad  las  echan  fuera  de  ellas,  y  las 
arrastran  al  ejido,  al  humilladero,  a  la  plaza  6  al  portico  de  la  iglesia. 
donde,  embozados  en  sus  capas,  6  al  arrimo  de  alguna  esquina,  6  sentados, 
6  vagando  aca  y  acuUa  sin  objeto  ni  proposito  determinado  pasan  triste- 
mente  las  horas  y  las  tardes  enteras  sin  espaciarse  ni  divertirse."  ^^" 

In  describing  these  solemn  feasts  which  remind  one  vaguely  of  the 


2«  Jovellanos,  v.  IV,  p.  60. 


160  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

old-fashioned  New  England  Sunday,  Jovellanos  does  not  seem  to  have 
realized  that  he  was  describing  in  a  masterly  way  the  state  of  mind  of  the 
men  and  women  who  would  gather  before  the  footlights  of  his  ideal  gov- 
ernment-regulated theatre. 

In  his  pity  for  the  brow-beaten  rustics,  he  had  exclaimed:  "No  ha 
nienester  que  el  Gobierno  le  divierta,  pero  si  que  le  deje  divertirse."  ^^* 

This  contradiction,  however,  is  only  apparent.  Jovellanos  had  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  theatrical  performances  were  not  a  fitting  form  of 
amusement  for  the  common  people.  Dramatic  performances  require  too 
much  time  from  those  who  are  to  earn  their  living  with  their  own  hands. 
Let  their  amusements  be  dancing  and  singing  in  the  open,  amusements 
which  need  imply  no  prolonged  idleness  and  which  cost  nothing.  If  the 
common  people  insist  on  going  to  plays,  it  will  be  the  best  thing  for  them 
in  the  last  analysis  if  they  are  made  as  uncomfortable  as  possible.  More- 
over, if  the  price  of  admission  were  raised,  many  would  be  kept  away 
from  a  form  of  entertainment  which  was  harmful  to  them  and  which  they 
helped  to  degrade  by  their  actions :  "Yo  no  pretendo  cerrar  a  nadie  sus 
puertas :  esten  enhorabuena  abiertas  a  todo  el  mundo,  pero  conviene  difi- 
cultar  indirectamente  la  entrada  a  la  gente  pobre  que  vive  de  su  trabajo, 
para  la  cual  el  tiempo  es  dinero  y  el  teatro  mas  casto  y  depurado  una 
distraccion  perniciosa.  He  dicho  que  el  pueblo  no  necesita  espectaculos ; 
ahora  digo  que  le  son  daiiosos,  sin  esceptuar  siquiera  el  de  la  Corte.  .  .  . 
Quiza  vendra  un  dia  de  tanta  perfeccion  para  nuestra  escena  que  pueda 
presentar  hasta  en  el  genero  infimo  y  grosero,  no  solo  una  diversion  ino- 
cente  y  sencilla,  sino  tambien  instructiva  y  provechosa.  Entonces  acaso 
convendra  establecer  teatros  baratos  y  vastisimos  para  divertir  en  dias 
festivos  al  pueblo  de  las  grandes  capitales.  Pero  este  momento  esta  muy 
distante  de  nosotros,  y  el  acelerarle  puede  ser  muy  arriesgado ;  quedense 
pues  las  esperanzas  y  bienes  deseados."  ^^^ 

In  such  words  as  these  Jovellanos  reveals  to  us  one  of  the  character- 
istics of  the  neo-classic  movement  which  so  far  had  been  kept  pretty  well 
out  of  sight.  We  refer  to  its  intrinsically^^stQCjratic  nature.  It  was  pri- 
marily the  quarrel  of  the  few  who  had  had  special  educational  advantages 
against  the  many  who  had  remained  in  ignorance.  The  movement  in  its 
theoretical  stages  did  not  show  any  scorn  of  the  common  people.  Quite 
to  the  contrary,  neo-classic  critics  loved  to  enlarge  on  the  unmatched 
opportunity  which  the  drama  offered  to  rulers  for  the  moral  teaching  of 
the  masses.  Good  plays  were  fountains  of  wisdom  and  virtue  from  which 
humanity  in  its  entirety  could  drink  deep  inspiration.    But  again  on  pass- 


2^^  Jovellanos,  v.  IV,  p.  60. 
2"  Jovellanos,  v.  IV,  p.  93. 


THE  LAST  STAGES  OF  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  161 

ing  from  theory  to  practice,  the  leaders  of  the  movement  found  themselves 
compelled  to  establish  a  number  of  "distinguos"  which  ended  by  sharply 
dividing  humanity  into  those  who  could  and  those  who  could  not  benefit 
by  the  higher  forms  of  art  even  when  they  were  made  to  express  the 
purest  moral  teachings.* 

Thus  in  the  last  analysis,  with  superior  men  like  Jovellanos  as  with  the 
small  fry  of  the  neo-classic  system  of  criticism,  society  was  bound  to  be 
divided  off  into  the  fit  and  the  unfit,  the  chosen  few  and  the  common  herd, 
and  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  common  herd,  what  with  its  hatred  of  foreign 
things  and  what  with  its  intuition  of  the  slight  which  the  system  was 
bound  to  inflict  upon  it,  stubbornly  refused  to  countenance  neo-classicism. 
The  common  people  realized  well  enough  that  the  more  they  accepted  its 
tenets,  the  more  they  put  themselves  in  a  condition  of  inferiority  towards 
the  rest  of  society. 

Samaniego. — In  the  critical  writings  of  Samaniego  ^^^  we  find  ex- 
pressed with  equal  vim  the  ideas  professed  by  Jovellanos.  The  fabulist, 
however,  did  not  have  the  same  reasons  for  believing  in  the  efficiency  of 
legislation  as  did  the  statesman  and  we  find  that  Samaniego  relies  in  his 
campaign  mainly  on  irony,  the  classical  weapon  of  literary  reformers  in 
Spain. 

How  bitter  and  cutting  Samaniego's  irony  could  be,  poor  Iriarte, 
who  had  offended  him  in  the  preface  to  the  first  edition  of  his  fables,  had 
found  out  at  his  own  expense.  This  dangerous  gift  of  his  Samaniego  used 
in  the  neo-classic  controversy  to  reply  to  Huerta's  strange  prologue,  to 
undermine  the  hope  still  cherished  by  some  that  Spanish  literature  con- 
tained undiscovered  treasures  of  regular  plays  and  finally  to  ridicule  the 
enormous  display  of  clap-trap  and  machinery  required  by  the  contempor- 
ary Comedia. 

In  poking  fun  at  the  childish  parallel  made  by  Huerta  between  the 
sulphurless  soil  of  France  and  that  nation's  insipid  literature,  Samaniego 
seems  to  have  hit  on  the  main  fallacy  of  all  arguments  which  tend  to  ex- 
plain away  differences  in  temperament  by  purely  physical  causes.  After  a 
mock-heroic  passage  in  which  he  extols  the  virtues  of  the  Spanish  soil 
and  the  Spanish  sun  and  in  which  he  shows  how  Spaniards  may  become 
full  of  genius  merely  by  breathing  the  nutritious  air  of  their  country  and 
allowing  its  sunlight  to  shine  on  their  pates,  Samaniego  exclaims: 
•'iEntonces,  entonces !  si  que  los  frutos  del  ingenio,  considerados  (por 
decirlo  asi)  fisicamente,  pues  que  en  ellos  solo  contariamos  con  la  influ- 
encia  del  clima ;  entonces,  vuelvo  a  decir  una  y  mil  veces,  entonces  si  que 


218  Obras  criticas  de  Don  Felix  Maria  de  Samaniego.     Precedidas  de  unos 
Estudios  Preliminares  escritos  por  Julian  Apraiz.    Bilbao,  1898. 

n 


162  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

las  producciones  de  nuestra  imaginacion  serian  garrafaies !  La  misma 
diferencia  habria  de  una  comedia  francesa  a  otra  espanola  que  la  que  va 
de  un  melon  de  Valencia  a  otro  melon  de  Burdeos,  6  de  un  cuerno  de  Me- 
dellin  a  otro  cuerno  de  Oloron."  ^^" 

Although  Samaniego  is  not  as  openly  aristocratic  as  Jovellanos,  we 
find  in  him  the  same  spirit  which  caused  Cadalso  to  ridicule  the  angel 
Gabriel  and  his  wooden  retainers,  and  this  spirit  is  merely  the  ironical 
attitude  arising  in  the  man  of  the  world  where  he  happens  to  be  witness- 
ing the  simple  amusements  of  the  "menu  peuple."  Says  Samaniego. 
speaking  of  the  average  popular  "comedia" :  "El  crujir  de  las  cuerdas,  el 
golpeo  de  los  contrapesos,  el  ruido  de  las  ruedas  y  poleas,  y  toda  la  faena 
de  los  diestros  maquinistas  se  perciben  por  lo  menos  desde  las  cuatro 
calles.  Asi  se  logra  que  hasta  los  papanes  de  Mahodres  conozcan  como  se 
hacen  estas  diabluras ;  y  reducido  el  arte  a  principios  faciles  y  sencillos 
vivimos  seguros  de  que  nunca  nos  faltan  tramoyistas,  y  lo  que  es  mas,  de 
que  la  Inquisicion  se  puede  meter  con  ellos."  ^^° 

On  the  more  serious  side  of  the  question,  we  find  that  Samaniego 
summarizes  in  an  unusually  full  way  the  various  points  of  the  neo-classic 
controversy  which  had  been  thrashed  out  during  the  century.  "iQue 
literato  no  conocera  que  nada  hay  comparable  en  el  teatro  frances,  ni  aun 
en  el  griego,  a  la  viveza  de  colorido  y  la  expression  de  la  verdad  con  que 
se  hallan  retratados  en  nuestras  comedias  de  figuron  algunos  de  los 
diferentes  caracteres  ridiculos  y  extravagantes  de  los  hombres?  Seamos 
pues,  sinceros:  confesemos  las  ventajas  y  desventajas  de  nuestro  teatro: 
hagamos  saber  al  mundo  ilustrado,  que  en  Espana  no  todos  hacemos 
apologias  del  error  y  del  disparate."  ^^^ 

The  only  original  contribution  made  by  Samaniego  to  the  argu- 
ments pro  and  con  which  we  have  had  to  repeat  so  often  in  the  course  of 
this  study  is  the  one  that  an  attack  on  bad  Comedia,  far  from  being  an 
attack  on  the  Spanish  mind,  is  really  a  way  to  redeem  its  reputation. 
"Los  dramas  mejores,  absolutamente  hablando,  son  siempre  los  que  mas 
divierten;  y  es  hacer  una  horrenda  injuria  a  nuestro  pueblo  el  asegurar 
que  solo  se  puede  divertir  con  representaciones  torpcs,  groseras  o 
ridiculas."  ^^^ 

Other  quotations  could  be  brought  forth  to  prove  how  completely 
the  critical  ideas  of  Samaniego  summed  up  the  neo-classic  system  consid- 


218  Samaniego,    etc.,    p.    7Z.     Quoted    from    Continuacion    de    las    Memorias 
Criticas  por  Cosme  Damian. 

220  Samaniego,  p.  95.     Quoted   from  Carta  sobre   el  Teatro  in  "Censor,"   t. 
XCII.    Madrid,  1786,  p.  95. 

221  Ibid.,  p.  75.    Cosme  Damian. 

222  Samaniego.    Carta  Sobre  el  Teatro,  p.  86. 


THE  LAST  STAGES  OF  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  163 

ered  in  the  complete  state  of  development  which  it  had  reached  towards 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  One  passage  of  the  letter  written  by 
the  fabulist  to  "El  Censor"  in  1786  is  probably  the  source  used  by  L.  F.  de 
Moratin  for  the  lines  of  the  "Comedia  Nueva"  in  which  Don  Pedro  sol- 
emnly warns  his  audience  of  the  close  connection  existing  between  the  real 
greatness  of  a  nation  and  that  of  its  literature.*  In  the  "Continuacion  de 
las  Memorias  Criticas  por  Cosme  Damian"  we  find  a  sketch  of  the  argu- 
ments drawn  by  N.  F.  de  Moratin  from  Luzan  to  the  effect  that  the  rules 
are  universal  and  immortal  and  that  neither  imagination  nor  fancy  can 
rightly  prevail  against  them.  Again  in  another  instance,  we  find  Saman- 
iego  repeating  the  type  of  praise  of  Spanish  literature  which  we  met  in  the 
"ArtePoetica"  and  in  the  "Diario"  and  which  we  have  read  in  Bourgoing's 
account  of  the  Spanish  drama.  In  brief,  as  we  have  seen  that  every  neo- 
classic  critic  since  Luzan  had  echoed  the  ideas  of  that  leader  first  of  all, 
then  had  tried  rather  feebly  to  say  something  new,  so  we  find  that  Saman- 
iego  is  primarily  a  faithful  echo  of  the  whole  movement  as  it  stood  at 
the  end  of  the  century.* 

If  he  does  add  a  new  element  besides  the  one  mentioned  above,  it  is 
along  the  line  already  defined  by  Jovellanos,  that  is,  along  the  line  of 
dividing  the  Spanish  public  into  an  aristocratic  group  into  whom  good 
taste  had  already  been  inculcated  and  a  popular  group  which  had  every- 
thing to  learn  in  such  matters. 

Moral  teaching,  according  to  the  early  leaders  of  the  neo-classic 
movement,  was  to  be  the  aim  of  literature  and  particularly  of  the  drama. 
Its  possibilities  as  a  social  force  and  as  a  source  of  refinement  and  poUsh 
had  not  been  considered  very  seriously  at  first. 

Samaniego,  who  as  an  admirer  and  an  imitator  of  the  "Philoso- 
phes,"  was  not  above  suspicion  in  his  attitude  towards  religion,  was  willing 
to  put  the  social  and  esthetic  role  of  the  drama  on  a  par  with  its  duty  to 
teach  or  safeguard  morality.  "No  baste  que  el  teatro  instruya,  es  menester 
tambien  que  pula  y  que  cultive."  ^^^ 

As  we  have  been  approaching  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  we 
have  found  that  evidences  of  the  wide  spread  of  neo-classicism  grew 
enormously  in  number. 

To  deal  only  with  the  important  names,  we  might  add  to  Jovellanos 
and  Samaniego,  Quintana  and  the  whole  poetical  school  (so-called)  of 
Valencia.  Had  we  aimed  to  compile  a  catalogue  of  quotations  from  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  neo-classicism,  we  could  have  filled  portfolios  with 
excerpts  from  "El  Pensador,"  "El  Censor,"  "El  Memorial  Literario." 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  futile  than  such  a  course.     The  nco- 

223  Samaniego,  p.  86. 


164  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

classicists  whom  we  shall  not  study  differed  in  no  way  from  those  who 
have  been  the  object  of  our  investigation,  and  we  know  but  too  well  how 
uniform  and  monotonous  the  majority  of  these  gentlemen  have  proved  to 
be  in  their  trains  of  thought  and  in  their  arguments. 

We  might  faithfully  analyze  the  "Poetica"  of  Quintana  and  receive 
no  greater  reward  for  our  troubles  than  if  we  had  studied  his  regular 
tragedies.* 

Likewise  to  attempt  to  give  an  account  of  the  journalistic  debates 
in  the  eighties  and  nineties  in  a  way  that  could  command  the  interest 
of  even  the  most  generous  reader  is  a  feat  which  we  feel  in  no  way 
capable  of  accomplishing.  The  only  feeling  that  such  a  piece  of  drudgery 
could  awaken  would  be  one  of  amazement  at  the  infinite  capacity  of  cer- 
tain individuals  for  repeating,  as  if  they  had  discovered  them,  truths  or 
principles  which  have  long  been  classified  as  platitudes.* 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  so  far  as  the  important  and  useful  elements  of 
our  study  are  concerned,  we  have  come  to  the  end  of  our  labors.  We  have 
followed  the  spread  of  the  neo-classic  spirit  from  its  start  to  the  time 
when  it  had  been  disseminated  among  all  classes  of  Spanish  society  as 
broadly  as  it  lay  in  its  nature  to  be  disseminated. 

An  attempt  to  present  more  in  detail  the  documents  and  the  argu- 
ments of  this  final  dissemination  would  compel  us  to  enter  into  a  series  of 
repetitions  which  in  irksomeness  would  quite  eclipse  those  which  it  has 
been  our  lot  to  commit  in  the  course  of  this  study. 

Rather  than  lose  ourselves  in  a  mass  of  petty  and  inconclusive  de- 
tails, let  us  be  satisfied  in  indicating  briefly  and  in  broad  lines  the  develop- 
ment of  the  neo-classic  movement  from  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Romantic  movement. 

First  of  all  let  us  deal  with  the  trend  of  ideas  in  the  field  of  literary 
criticism. 

The  Evolution  of  the  Neo-Classic  Opposition. — Neo-classicism,  as 
we  have  said,  had  reached  the  end  of  its  development  with  the  end  of  the 
century.  It  had  been  stated  completely  and  all  classes  of  society  had  been 
made  acquainted  with  its  tenets.  The  purely  theoretical  writings  of  L.  F. 
de  Aloratin,  of  Martinez  de  la  Rosa,  and  of  Quintana  testify  once  for  all 
to  this  condition  of  complete  development.  They  prove  with  equal  con- 
clusiveness the  fundamental  incompatibility  which  separated  the  popular 
mind  in  Spain  from  the  aristocratic  ideals  of  neo-classicism.  In  them- 
selves, these  works  ofifer  no  interest.  It  was  by  the  reaction  that  so  much 
dogma  aroused  that  these  last  great  neo-classic  documents  came  to  have 
an  influence  on  literary  criticism. 

We  have  seen  in  the  course  of  our  study  how  at  each  new  develop- 


THE  LAST  STAGES  OF  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  165 

ment  of  the  neo-classic  propaganda  there  arose  a  number  of  writers  who 
stood  against  it,  not  so  much  in  the  name  of  art  as  in  that  of  patriotism. 

At  first  this  opposition  was  merely  an  outburst  of  anger  against  a 
party  which  put  foreign  ideals  above  those  of  the  mother  country.  The 
opposition  to  neo-classicism  was  then  emotional  in  its  nature  and  con- 
spicuously lacked  soUdity.  As  the  fight  progressed,  the  emotional  ele- 
ment continued  preeminent  but  the  opponents  of  neo-classicism  perceived 
at  last  that,  even  from  a  purely  rational  standpoint,  the  position  of  their 
enemies  was  not  unassailable.  Instead  of  indulging  exclusively  in  denun- 
ciations of  the  innovators  they  gradually  set  themselves  to  introducing 
elements  of  rationality  in  their  arguments. 

To  be  sure,  Garcia  de  la  Huerta  was  mainly  vituperative,  yet  we  saw 
that  he  made  use  of  neo-classicism  in  his  attack  against  Cervantes  and 
that  he  delighted  in  inventing  a  parallel  between  the  literature  of  France 
and  that  country's  climate.  Lampillas,  by  attempting  to  view  Spanish 
literature  from  a  comparative  standpoint,  made  a  dignified  defense  of  the 
Spanish  stage  a  possibility.  To  be  brief,  in  proportion  as  the  neo-classic 
critics  grew  smug  and  self-satisfied,  their  opponents  grew  in  experience 
and  in  capacity. 

The  Romantic  opposition  which,  as  Menendez  y  Pelayo  points  out, 
had  with  more  or  less  success  stood  out  at  all  times  against  the  neo- 
classic  movement,  had  gained  steadily  in  strength.  By  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century  it  had  become  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with.  It 
presented  no  longer  a  form  of  explosive  indignation  but  a  body  of  clear 
ideas  infinitely  more  intelligent  and  far-sighted  than  those  which  made  up 
the  bulk  of  the  neo-classic  argumentation.  This  so-called  Romantic  op- 
position had  become  a  manner  of  compromise  in  which  reason  held  an  im- 
portant place  while  national  traits  received  due  consideration. 

Menendez  y  Pelayo  has  given  a  careful  account  of  the  works  of  the 
main  exponents  of  this  growing  school  of  criticism.  It  is  only  for  the 
sake  of  completeness  that  we  shall  mention  briefly  here  the  more  impor- 
tant names  which  are  treated  quite  fully  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the 
"Ideas  Esteticas." 

Eximeneo,  for  instance,  attacked  the  three  unities  in  a  very  able  and 
rational  way.  He  felt  certain  that,  had  England  weighed  down  the  gen- 
ius of  its  writers  with  these  conventions,  there  would  have  been  no 
Shakespeare,  and  that  with  such  shackles  the  greatness  of  Lope  would 
never  have  made  itself  known. ^^^  This  critic,  to  be  sure,  had  no  love  for 
Calderon's  diction,  and  his  opinions,  if  we  omit  those  dealing  with  the 
unities,  were  after  all  not  far  from  those  of  Luzan. 


22*  Ideas  Esteticas,  v.  VI,  p.  34. 


166  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

Much  less  conventional  in  their  judgments  and  more  typical  of  this 
new  Spanish  school  of  good  sense  were  the  two  writers,  Berguizas  and 
Estala. 

Berguizas,  who  wrote  about  at  the  time  when  La  Harpe  lectured, 
was  a  true  classicist.  He  dared  attack  periphrasis  and  outlined  the  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  taking  into  consideration  the  times,  the  country  and  the 
race  in  arriving  at  literary  judgments.  To  quote  Menendez  y  Pelayo : 
"Sostiene  que  ni  en  hebreo  ni  en  griego  fueron  nunca  bajas  las  expresi- 
ones,  'asno  fuerte,  mi  asta  6  mi  cuerno,  el  ombligo  de  la  tierra'  .  .  .  ni 
debe  parecer  disonancia  el  que  se  compare  a  una  mujer  hermosa  con  una 
yegua."  ^^' 

Estala  saw  before  Schlegel  that  the  ancient  and  the  modern  tragedy 
had  nothing  in  common.  Instead  of  breaking  into  wordy  rhapsodies  on 
the  neglected  beauties  of  Lope  and  Calderon,  he  makes  a  straightforward 
attack  on  the  theories  of  "illusion"  and  of  "imitation,"  that  is,  he  pro- 
ceeds to  pull  down  the  very  keynote  of  the  neo-classic  arch.  To  quote 
again  from  "Las  Ideas  Esteticas" :  "A  fuerza  de  analizar,  y  de  querer 
reducir  las  imitaciones  a  los  originales,  aniquilan  las  bellas  artes  .  .  .  y 
ri  que  ha  resultado  de  este  principio  tan  absurdo  ?  De  el  ha  nacido  aquella 
voz  insensata  y  quimerica  de  ilusion :  se  pretende  hallar  ilusion  en  la 
pintura,  ilusion  en  la  escultura  y  mil  ilusiones  en  la  dramatica  .  .  . 
Ningiin  espectador  sensato  puede  padecer  ilusion,  ni  por  un  momento,  en 
el  teatro :  sabe  que  ha  ido  a  ver  una  representacion,  no  un  hecho  ver- 
dadero;  lo  material  del  edificio,  los  mismos  espectadores  le  estan  con- 
tinuamente  advirtiendo  esta  vertad  .  .  . ;  la  imitacion  es  absolutamente 
distinta  de  la  verdad  ...  las  bellas  artes  ni  aspiran,  ni  deben,  ni  pueden 
aspirar  a  causar  ilusion,  siendo  la  ilusion  una  quimera,  un  parto  mon- 
struoso  de  la  mas  profunda  ignorancia  de  los  principios,  un  absurdo  de 
que  no  se  halla  rastro  en  la  antigiiedad  y  un  manantial  fecundo  de  er- 
rores."  "« 

From  such  quotations  as  the  foregoing  we  see  that  the  clash  between 
the  two  literary  factions  had  resulted  in  giving  rise  to  ideas  on  literary 
criticism  which  were  in  no  way  contemptible.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
modern  reader  is  amazed  more  than  once  to  meet  in  the  writings  of  these 
Spaniards,  statements  of  ideas  of  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  think 
as  having  arisen  only  with  the  Schlegel  brothers  and  the  other  early 
Romantic  critics. 

Though  the  final  result  of  these  discussions  helped  to  start  in  Spain 
a  trend  towards  modern  criticism,  neither  the  neo-classic  party  nor  that 


225  Ideas  Esteticas,  v.  VI,  p.  73. 
22«  Ideas  Esteticas,  v.  VI,  p.  80. 


THE  LAST  STAGES  OF  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  167 

standing  for  national  traits  was  able  to  pull  Spain  out  of  the  slough  of 
artistic  impotence  in  which  it  had  been  floundering  since  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  aristocratic  tendencies,  which  we  saw  so  distinctly  in  the  works 
of  Jovellanos,  at  last  united  with  the  desire  for  governmental  interfer- 
ence, which  is  pretty  sure  to  spring  up  in  the  hearts  of  reformers  when 
they  come  to  realize  that  their  propaganda  is  not  making  much  headway. 

First  a  censorship  of  the  stage  had  been  established,  then  a  board 
to  replace  the  municipal  control  of  playhouses  was  organized.  No  one 
will  ever  know  just  why  it  was  that  a  military  officer  was  made  president 
of  this  organization,  which  had  absolute  sway  not  only  over  the  business 
part  of  theatrical  administration,  but  also  over  the  personnel  of  com- 
panies and  the  kind  of  plays  which  should  or  should  not  be  presented  to 
the  public.  Moratin,  who  had  just  been  made  director  of  the  board,  could 
not  get  along  with  his  warrior  chief  and  resigned,  only  to  be  made  "cor- 
rector" of  comedies.  His  duty  was  to  modify  those  plays  of  the  old 
Spanish  repertoire  which,  with  a  few  alterations,  could  be  made  present- 
able to  an  audience  composed  of  representatives  of  the  "honnete  homme" 
species  of  the  genus  homo. 

As  a  result  of  so  much  official  activity,  over  six  hundred  "comedias," 
some  of  them  the  very  flower  of  the  classic  stage  of  Spain,  were  con- 
demned as  unfit  to  be  presented  to  the  public."^  Translators  of  foreign 
plays  were  so  stimulated  that  the  playhouses  were  fairly  flooded  with 
tragedies  from  all  over  Europe.  A  few  old  plays  were  successfully  mod- 
ified and  acted. ^^®  Yet,  in  spite  of  such  a  wealthy  repertoire,  actors  and 
public  uttered  loud  protests.  The  former  plied  their  trade  only  when  on 
the  verge  of  starvation  and,  as  there  was  no  adequate  way  of  driving  audi- 
ences into  the  theatres,  these  soon  ran  into  debt  and,  before  long,  the 
Junta  had  to  resign  to  avoid  greater  financial  calamities. 

Certain  Spanish  writers  have  taken  very  much  to  heart  this  tyrannical 
sway  brought  on  the  playhouses  of  Madrid  by  the  fanaticism  of  the  neo- 
classicists. 

The  Junta  was  most  certainly  an  incredibly  stupid  form  of  govern- 
mental meddling  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  did  no  harm  to  dramatic  art 
smce  such  art  did  not  exist. 

Before  the  Junta,  as  during  and  after  its  brief  reign,  the  repertoire  of 
the  Madrid  theatres  remained  just  about  the  same.     With  some  of  the 


227  Among  them  "La  Vida  es  Sueno,"  "El  Principe  Constante,"  "El  Majico 
Prodigioso,"  "El  Tejedor  de  Segovia,"  "El  Convidado  de  Piedra." 

228  Especially  "La  Estrella  de  Sevilla,"  modified  by  Trigueros  in  1800.  (Re- 
vista  de  Archives — Julio — Agosto,  1912,  article  entitled :  Menendez  y  Pelayo  y  la 
Dramatica  Nacional.) 


168  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

popular  productions  of  the  great  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century  there 
was  played  a  multitude  of  plebeian  abortions  coming  from  the  pens  of 
such  impossible  writers  as  Cornelia,  and  foreign  translations  abounded. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  neo-classic  drama,  throughout  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  through  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  had 
every  possible  opportunity  to  show  whether  or  no  it  was  able  to  com- 
mand the  interest  of  Spanish  audiences.  Its  utter  failure  to  do  so  is  not 
surprising  to  us  if  we  only  stop  to  read  the  names  of  the  foreign  authors 
whose  works  were  set  forth  as  models  of  the  dramatic  art.  They  explain 
easily  enough  the  stubborn  resistance  of  both  players  and  public  to  this 
foreign  invasion. 

To  be  sure,  all  such  importations  were  not  French.  Among  their 
numbers  figure  some  of  the  works  of  Shakespeare,  Metastasio,  Goldoni 
and  Alfieri,  but  Shakespeare  was  known  only  through  the  adaptation  of 
Ducis  which  gained  nothing  in  being  translated  into  Spanish.  As  for  the 
Italian  plays,  what  their  translators  saw  in  them  was  first  of  all  their 
regularity. 

The  small  fry  of  the  decadent  French  classicism  together  with  Vol- 
taire supplied  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  plays  intended  to  take  the  place 
of  the  extravagant  as  well  as  of  the  admirable  productions  of  the  Spanish 
drama. 

In  the  frequent  mentions  of  such  plays  made  by  Cotarelo  y  Mori  in 
his  various  works  on  the  dramatic  art  of  the  period  we  meet  such  names 
as  Andrieux,  Lemercier,  Arnaud,  Brifaut,  and  even  such  a  writer  as  Pixe- 
recourt  found  translators. 

The  name  of  Brifaut  gains  fame  in  this  connection.  That  writer  is 
of  course  remembered  mainly  for  the  facility  with  which,  upon  recom- 
mendation by  the  government,  he  changed  his  Spanish  tragedy  "Don 
Sanche"  to  an  Oriental  play.  The  operation  was  a  simple  one,  consist- 
ing mainly  in  modifying  the  names  of  the  characters  and  in  placing  the 
scene  on  eastern  instead  of  western  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 

"Don  Sanche"  under  its  new  title,  "Ninus  II.,"  was  translated  and 
slightly  condensed  by  a  capable  Spaniard.^^^  The  play  which  under  its 
first  name  might  have  strained  the  diplomatic  relations  between  France 
and  Spain  was  under  its  disguise  heartily  received  by  the  latter.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  it  scored  a  tremendous  success  and  brought  some  consola- 
tion to  the  neo-classic  partisans.  "La  obra  tuvo  exito  fabuloso  con 
grandes  entradas,"  says  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  who  feels  that  the  Spanish  ver- 
sion of  Brifaut's  play  is  still  in  our  days  a  most  readable  tragedy. 


22®  Cotarelo  y  Mori,  Isidore  Maiquez,  p.  436.    The  translator  of  Brifaut's  play 
was  Jose  Joaquin  de  Mora. 


THE  LAST  STAGES  OF  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  169 

In  spite  of  occasional  successes  scored  by  the  supporters  of  this 
wholesale  literary  importation  and  in  spite  of  Moratin's  comedies,  the 
average  run  of  plays  given  in  these  days  of  literary  chaos  is  depressingly 
low. 

It  is  clear  enough  to  us  who  have  the  advantage  of  proper  perspec- 
tive, that  when  it  came  to  a  matter  of  practical  application,  the  neo-classic- 
ists  and  their  opponents  were  merely  rivals  in  impotence. 

The  mob  in  the  "patio"  might  well  express  its  indignation  quite  unin- 
terruptedly and,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  existing  conditions,  its  judg- 
ments could  not  very  well  help  being  correct. 

If  in  the  general  confusion  it  hissed  Moratin's  "El  Baron"  off  the 
stage  we  can  not  really  blame  it  very  seriously.  We  are  rather  filled  with 
admiration  at  the  discrimination  it  showed  in  the  case  of  the  "Mogigata" 
which  it  treated  kindly  and  in  that  of  the  "Si  de  las  Nifias"  which  it 
greeted  with  genuine  enthusiasm. 

But  we  are  now  distinctly  beyond  the  limits  of  our  subject.  These 
matters  belong  to  the  literary  history  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  since, 
except  for  the  literary  criticism  of  the  opposition,  our  movement  has 
ended  in  sterility  on  the  one  hand  and  in  chaos  on  the  other,  we  may  well 
consider  our  task  completed.  Let  us  therefore  turn  our  attention  to  the 
neo-classic  movement  as  a  whole. 

It  may  be  that  a  retrospective  view  of  our  field  of  study  may  lend  it 
a  dignity  which  from  a  purely  esthetic  standpoint  it  certainly  does  not 
possess. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 

p.  156.  Coleccion  de  varias  obras  en  Prosa  y  Verso  del  Ex'mo  Senor  Don 
Caspar  Melchor  de  Jovellanos.  (Adicionada  con  algunas  notas  por  D.  Ramon 
Marcia  Canedo.)     Madrid,  1830.    7  vols.    V.  VII,  p.  107. 

P.  157.  Memoria  para  el  arreglo  de  la  Policia  de  los  espectaculos  y  diver- 
siones  publicas,  y  sobre  su  origen  en  Espana.     V.  IV  of  edition  cited. 

P.  158.  Jovellanos,  v.  IV,  p.  57.  "iComo  es  posible  alucinarse  sobre  una 
cuestion  de  hecho,  en  la  cual  la  asistencia  de  una  semana  al  teatro  vale  mas  que 
todos  los  miserables  argumentos  empleados  en  su  favor,  y  aun  mas  tambien  que 
las  vagas  declamaciones  y  el  fastidioso  farrago  de  centones  y  lugares  comunes 
con  que  los  moralistas  ban  combatido  lo  que  no  conocieron?"  .  .  .  Speaks  of  the 
good  work  done  by  the  criticism  of  "Cervantes,  Luzan,  Nasarre,  Valdefiores 
(Velazquez),  Pensador,  Censor,  Memorial  Literario,  La  Espigadera  y  otros  muchos 
que  como  filosofos,  como  criticos  6  como  politicos,  trataron  este  punto.  .  .  .  Por 
lo  que  a  mi  toca  no  hay  prueba  tan  decisiva  de  la  corrupcion  de  nuestro  gusto,  y 
de  la  depravacion  de  nuestras  ideas,  como  la  fria  indiferencia  con  que  dejamos 
representar  unos  dramas  en  que  el  pudor,  la  caridad,  la  buena  fe,  la  decencia,  y 


170  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

todas  las  maximas  re  noble  y  buena  educacion,  son  abiertamente  conculcadas.  i  Si 
se  cree  por  ventura  que  la  inocente  puericia,  la  ardiente  juventud,  la  ociosa  y 
regalada  nobleza,  el  ignorante  vulgo  pueden  ver  sin  peligro  tantos  ejemplos  de 
impudencia  y  groseria,  de  unfania  y  necio  pundonor,  dc  desacato  a  la  justicia  y  a 
las  leyes,  de  infidelidad  a  las  obligaciones  piiblicas  y  domesticas,  puestos  en  accion, 
pintados  con  colores  mas  vivos  y  animados  con  el  encanto  de  la  ilusion,  y  con  las 
gracias  de  la  poesia  y  de  la  miisica?  Confesesmolo  de  buena  fe,  etc."  Again,  p. 
77 :  "La  reforma  de  nuestro  teatro  debe  empezar  por  el  destierro  de  casi  todos  los 
dramas  que  estan  sobre  la  escena."  Not  merely  the  modern  senseless  productions, 
"hablo  tambien  de  aquellas  justamente  celebradas  entre  nostros,  que  algun  dia 
sirvieron  de  modelo  a  otras  naciones,  y  que  la  porcion  mas  cuerda  e  ilustrada  de  la 
nuestra  ha  visto  siempre  y  ve  todavia  con  entusiasmo  y  delicia.  Sere  siempre  el 
primero  a  confesar  sus  bellezas  inimitables,  la  novedad  de  su  invencion,  la  belleza 
de  su  estilo,  la  fluidez  y  naturalidad  de  su  dialogo,  etc.,  etc.  ^Pero  que  importa, 
si  estos  mismos  dramas  mirados  a  la  luz  de  los  preceptos  y  principalmente  a  la  sana 
razon,  estan  plagados  de  vicios  y  defectos  que  la  moral  y  la  politica  no  pueden 
tolerar?" 

P.  159.  Jovellanos,  v.  IV,  p.  90.  Seating  everybody  will  bring  about  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  shameful  "diferencia  que  la  situacion  establece  entre  los  espec- 
tadores;  todos  estaran  sentados,  todos  a  gusto,  todos  de  buen  humor;  no  habra 
pues  que  temer  el  menor  desorden." 

P.  161.  Jovellanos,  like  nearly  all  the  other  writers  of  his  school,  gave  his 
treatise  on  the  rules  of  Aristotle.  It  can  be  found  in  v.  VI  of  his  works,  p.  65, 
and  in  his  essay  entitled  "Rudimento  de  Gramatica  General  6  sea  Introduccion 
al  estudio  de  las  Lenguas."  Admits  that  the  unities  may  be  stretched  at  times 
but  that  the  closer  they  are  adhered  to  the  nearer  will  the  author  come  to  per- 
fection. 

P.  163.  P.  83:  "Sin  embargo  ningun  objeto  es  mas  importante,  mas  digno 
de  censura,  ni  mas  necesitado  de  ella.  El  credito  y  a  caso  la  felicidad  de  la  Nacion, 
las  ideas,  los  usos,  las  costumbres  de  sus  individuos :  la  honestidad,  la  humanidad, 
la  solida  piedad,  la  verdadera  gloria,  el  honor,  el  patriotismo,  todas  las  virtudes 
naturales,  morales  y  civiles  se  interesan  en  su  reforma  y  claman  altamente  por  ella. 
No  hay  condicion,  estado,  edad,  ni  sexo  que  no  le  frecuente,  que  no  reciba  en  el 
lecciones  y  que  no  pueda  beber  en  esta  fuente  6  la  ponzona  del  error  6  las  aguas 
de  la  buena  y  saludable  doctrina." 

P.  163.  Samaniego,  pp.  70-74;  "Estas  leyes  son  eternas,  universales,  propias 
de  todos  los  tiempos  y  paises,  de  que  ninguno  tiene,  a  lo  menos  hasta  ahora  el 
privilegio  de  dispensarse;  y  que  finalmente,  el  plan,  el  interes  y  la  invencion  de 
cualquiera  de  estas  composiciones  deben  sujetarse  a  los  principios  invariables  ya 
senalados,  quedando  solo  al  autor  la  libertad  en  la  distribucion  de  los  adornos  de 
cada  parte,  segun  las  circunstancias  particulares  del  objeto  que  se  propone  y  de 
caracter  que  aquellos  a  quienes  se  dirige."  And  p.  74:  "iQue  literato  no  conocera 
que  nada  hay  comparable  en  el  teatro  frances,  ni  aun  en  el  griego  a  la  viveza  de 
colorido  y  la  expresion  de  la  verdad  con  que  se  hallen  retratados  en  nuestras  come- 
dias  de  figuron  algunos  de  los  diferentes  caracteres  ridiculos  y  extravagantes 
de  los  hombres?" 

P.  164.  Menendez  y  Pelayo  in  his  Heterodoxos,  v.  Ill,  on  the  XVIII  Cen- 
tury, ch.  iii,  div.  5.  El  Enciclopedismo  en  las  letras  humanas — sees  in  Quintana's 
"Poetica"  a  very  dangerous  liberal  and  humanitarian  trend.  "Quintana  en  su  Ensayo 


THE  LAST  STAGES  OF  THE  NEO-CLASSIC  MOVEMENT  171 

didactico  sobre  las  reglas  del  drama — no  encuentra  elogio  bastante  para  el  teatro  de 
Voltaire — porque  se  propiiso  destruir  la  supersticion  en  Mahoma  y  dar  lecciones  de 
humanidad  en  Elzira." 

P.  164.  To  the  discussions  of  El  Censor,  El  Pensador,  we  could  add  the 
writings  of  Marujan,  Molina,  and  Zavaleta,  who  preceded  them  and  represent  the 
school  of  Garcia  de  la  Huerta.  Marujan  to  save  the  Comedia  started  the  practice 
of  condemning  Cervantes.     (Menendez  y  Pelayo,  Ideas,  v.  Ill,  pp.  214-222.) 


CONCLUSION. 

The  eighteenth  century  in  Spain  is  a  period  of  that  country's  history 
which  its  scholars  find  great  difficulty  in  viewing  sympathetically. 

There  is  nothing  astonishing  in  this.  There  are  two  good  reasons 
why  the  eighteenth  century  should  seem  unattractive  or  rather  repulsive 
to  patriotic  Spaniards.  First,  without  mentioning  the  irreligious  char- 
acter of  the  period,  and  for  many  that  matter  forms  a  very  powerful 
third  reason,  the  eighteenth  century  was  almost  uninterruptedly  barren 
from  either  the  artistic  or  the  intellectual  point  of  view.  Secondly,  that 
barrenness  became  evident  to  the  leading  thinkers  of  the  rest  of  Europe 
who,  throughout  the  period,  indulged  in  comparisons  as  flattering  to  their 
own  countries  as  they  were  humiliating  to  the  Spanish  nation. 

The  neo-classic  movement  was  at  its  origin  a  confession  of  inferior- 
ity on  the  part  of  a  minority  of  public-spirited  Spaniards.  By  the  dis- 
cussion it  promoted  it  did  much  to  make  patent  to  the  rest  of  Europe  the 
intellectual  stagnation  of  the  peninsula.  It  is,  therefore,  perfectly  natural 
that  modern  Spaniards  should  look  upon  it  with  disfavor.  It  seems  to 
them  to  embody  the  spirit  of  a  period  when  love  of  country  was  at  a  very 
low  ebb. 

The  many  expressions  of  superiority  uttered  by  self-satisfied  French- 
men and  Italians,  particularly  towards  the  end  of  the  century,  might  by 
themselves  warrant  this  attitude  of  hostihty  on  the  part  of  Spaniards.  If 
now  we  reflect  upon  the  fact  that,  after  many  years  of  pin  pricks  in- 
flicted by  disdainful  neighbors,  there  came  suddenly  a  time  when  foreign 
influence  took  the  form  of  foreign  invasion,  or  if  we  stop  to  think  that 
to  many  Spaniards  the  neo-classic  movement  culminated  in  armed  inter- 
ference and  the  shedding  of  Spain's  best  blood,  then  we  find  it  impossible 
to  wonder  at  the  hostility  which  we  meet  so  consistently  in  the  works  of 
those  scholars  who  have  studied  the  eighteenth  century. 

To  be  sure,  neo-classicism  was  not  responsible  for  this  tragic  climax, 
but  when  national  humiliation  comes  from  the  very  quarters  which  had 
been  promising  intellectual  greatness  and  renewed  national  prosperity  it 
would  be  asking  too  much  from  the  victims  of  a  brutal  onslaught  to  dis- 
tinguish the  current  of  useful  thought  from  the  tyranny  which  used  it  as 
a  cloak. 

Spaniards  in  our  own  days  have  adopted  as  their  own  the  quarrel  of 
their  forefathers.     Viewed   from  the  standpoint  of  what   Spain  had  to 


174  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN  SPAIN 

bear  first  and  last  from  those  who  claimed  to  possess  light  for  all  nations, 
this  hostility  is  highly  honorable.  It  is  an  assurance  that,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  state  of  discouragement  of  Spaniards  during  certain  parts 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  patriotism  in  that  nation  is  again  very  strong 
and  uncompromising.  To  be  sure,  it  seems  to  us  that  not  infrequently  its 
very  strength  warps  the  judgments  of  certain  writers  but  who  is  not 
ready  to  overlook  prejudice  arising  from  the  bitter  grief  which  national 
disaster  has  caused  to  spring  up  in  the  hearts  of  patriotic  men  ? 

Unfortunately,  hostility  to  neo-classicism  does  not  always  arise  from 
causes  as  honorable  as  the  ones  which  we  have  just  been  discussing. 

We  have  seen  that  each  new  exponent  of  neo-classicism  during  the 
long  drawn  out  period  which  we  have  surveyed,  saw  rising  before  him 
antagonists  who  attacked  him  passionately  without  having  taken  the 
trouble  to  study  the  real  merits  of  the  thought  advocated. 

Perhaps  the  most  flagrant  illustration  of  this  is  supplied  by  the  case 
of  the  "Diario  de  los  Literates."  The  editors  of  that  periodical  started 
in  all  sincerity  and  praiseworthy  moderation  to  tell  what  they  felt  was  the 
truth  and  what  actually  was  the  truth.  They  fell  before  the  blind  rage 
of  opponents  whose  strength  came  from  their  perfect  ignorance  of  the 
case  in  hand.  In  the  name  of  patriotism,  they  drowned  out  with  their 
angry  protests  the  perfectly  sensible  advice  which  was  being  given  them 
by  their  more  thoughtful  compatriots.  To  the  shout  of  "my  country  right 
or  wrong"  they  violently  repulsed  a  form  of  thought  which,  with  all  its 
superficial  weaknesses,  contained  elements  capable  of  reinstilling  vigor 
into  the  nearly  defunct  intellectual  life  of  the  nation. 

This  chauvinism  was  the  fountain  head  of  that  under-current  of 
"romanticism"  which,  as  Menendez  y  Pelayo  proudly  points  out,  never 
for  a  moment  ceased  opposing  neo-classicism.  An  under-current  repre- 
senting a  protest  of  Spanish  art  against  the  foreign  importation  would 
have  been  eminently  honorable.  Such  was  not  primarily  the  opposition 
which  neo-classicism  had  to  contend  with.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
such  an  element  did  not  enter  into  the  opposing  current,  but  it  did  so 
only  subconsciously  and,  at  first  at  least,  to  a  very  small  degree.  It  gath- 
ered its  real  strength  not  from  seeing  Spain's  art  ignored  but  from  an 
instinctive  impulse  and  an  impassioned  desire  to  repulse  a  thing  foreign. 
To  a  large  extent,  the  opposition  to  the  neo-classic  movement  was  merely 
the  result  of  an  irrational  refusal  to  face  conditions  as  they  were  and  to 
admit  that  the  decadent  present  had  but  little  in  common  with  the  glo- 
rious past. 

Such  an  attitude  is  of  course  not  an  isolated  instance.  We  may 
recall  for  the  sake  of  illustration  the  quarrel  between  Castillejo  and  the 


CONCLUSION  175 

Italian  school.  Castillejo  compared  Boscan  to  Luther  and  we  know  what 
such  a  comparison  implies  in  a  country  as  faithful  to  the  Catholic  Church 
as  was  Spain  in  those  days.  Neither  do  we  need  to  confine  our  illustra- 
tions to  the  history  of  Spanish  literature.  What  a  long  war  did  not 
Goldoni  have  to  wage  against  those  who  felt  that  in  attacking  the 
"commedia  dell'arte"  he  was  committing  an  unpatriotic  act  ?  In  our  own 
days  when  a  French  literary  critic  eulogizes  under  the  all-covering  epithet 
of  "style  plantureux"  the  least  defensible  excesses  of  some  hopelessly 
neurotic  and  decadent  author,  he  is  often  merely  waving  the  red  flag  of 
the  "esprit  gaulois"  to  show  his  independence  of  Anglo-Saxon  preju- 
dice. 

To  return  to  our  main  topic,  irreverent  as  it  may  sound  at  first,  there 
is  just  a  little  of  that  narrow  patriotism  evident  in  the  works  of  some  of 
the  best  scholars  who  have  devoted  part  of  their  energies  to  a  study  of 
the  eighteenth  century  in  Spain.  They  themselves  are,  unconsciously 
perhaps,  continuing,  in  an  attenuated  form,  the  gallophobic  traditions  of 
the  neo-classic  opposition  which  throughout  the  eighteenth  century,  for 
better  or  for  worse,  never  ceased  to  be  active. 

That  spirit  is  not  strong  enough  as  a  rule  to  bring  out  epithets  of  out 
and  out  condemnation.  It  makes  itself  felt,  however,  by  creating  an  at- 
mosphere of  sympathy  about  every  name  connected  with  the  neo-classic 
opposition  and  by  casting  the  chill  of  its  tacit  disapproval  over  the  mem- 
ory of  those  who  favored  the  foreign  importation. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  interesting  to  make  a  study  of  the  kind  of 
adjectives  which  naturally  cluster  about  the  names  of  the  leaders  of  the 
two  camps. 

The  most  humble  exponents  of  the  opposition  see  flocking  about  their 
names  the  many  vocables  which  in  the  rich  Castilian  tongue  indicate  qual- 
ities of  brilliancy,  dash,  valor,  boldness,  haughty  independence. 

It  is  often  as  difficult  for  the  humble  intellects  who  opposed  neo- 
classicism  to  bear  this  burden  of  glorious  epithets  as  it  is  for  the  reader 
to  observe  with  composure  how  all  possible  synonyms  for  frigidity  and 
impotence  gather  automatically  about  the  names  of  the  best  men  pro- 
duced by  Spain  during  the  eighteenth  century. 

To  be  specific,  a  writer  who,  like  Forner,  produced  nothing  of  lasting 
value,  is  treated  more  sympathetically  than  his  enemy  Iriarte  or  his 
friend  L.  F.  de  Moratin. 

It  is  only  just  to  add  that  eminently  fair-minded  critics,  men  of  the 
type  of  Menendez  y  Pelayo  for  instance,  hit  on  a  happy  compromise. 
When  they  discuss  neo-classicism  as  a  whole,  they  make  their  dislike  of 
it  quite  evident,  but  when  they  deal  with  the  stronger  exponents  of  that 


176  THE  NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

movement,  as  individuals,  they  generously  point  out  the  good  qualities  of 
their  characters  and  of  their  literary  productions. 

This  mild  form  of  antagonism  to  foreign  influences  "per  se"  is  very 
interesting.  It  often  stamps  a  critic's  style  with  a  quaint,  half-avowed 
aggressiveness  which  is  not  without  charm.  To  be  sure,  there  are  times 
when  it  involves  an  author  in  slight  self-contradictions  but  the  reader  can 
not  help  being  pleased  in  recognizing  a  turn  of  mind  which  will  undoubt- 
edly exist  as  long  as  there  are  Spaniards  in  Spain. 

In  the  course  of  this  study  we  have  become  convinced  that  the  neo- 
classic  movement  was  not  as  unimportant  as  the  slimness  of  the  literary 
production  derived  directly  from  it  would  at  first  seem  to  indicate.  We 
can  not  do  better  in  closing  than  state  briefly  what  seems  to  us  to  be 
Spain's  indebtedness  to  neo-classicism. 

First  of  all,  we  may  well  be  forgiven  for  restating  a  point  which  is 
so  frequently  lost  sight  of,  namely,  that  neo-classicism  was  primarily  a 
reform  movement  started  by  Spaniards  and  exclusively  by  Spaniards. 
Not  a  single  foreign  name  is  associated  with  any  one  of  the  important 
stages  in  the  development  of  what  was  primarily  a  rationalistic  propa- 
ganda. The  leaders  of  the  movement  were  at  all  times  men  of  superior 
capacity  who  saw  clearly  the  need  of  a  radical  change  in  the  intellectual 
policy  of  their  nation.  They  perceived  that  Spanish  thought  had  relied 
altogether  too  much  in  the  past  on  unchecked  intuition  and  they  delib- 
erately set  themselves  to  bring  about  the  necessary  change. 

Not  only  were  these  leaders  Spanish  born,  they  were  in  all  cases 
intensely  patriotic  Spaniards. 

Their  opponents,  for  the  most  part,  men  of  inferior  intellectual  worth, 
did  not,  as  they  supposed,  hold  the  monopoly  of  patriotism  in  Spain.  It 
is  difficult  to  understand  how  it  is  that  so  much  doubt  has  gathered  about 
the  quality  of  the  neo-classic  leaders'  faithfulness  to  the  fatherland  when 
their  works  and  often  their  whole  lives  abound  in  unmistakable  proofs  of 
their  enthusiastic  love  of  country. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  intense  love  of  country  and  deep  concern  for  its 
fair  name  were  the  causes  which  brought  the  neo-classic  movement  into 
being. 

Luzan  wrote  his  "Poetica"  primarily  to  put  his  country  on  a  par  intel- 
lectually with  the  rest  of  Europe.  The  editors  of  the  "Diario"  started  on 
their  campaign  because  of  the  slight  which  contemporary  Spanish  litera- 
ture had  received  from  the  Jesuits  and  from  the  "Academic  des  Sciences." 
Montiano  undertook  the  great  labor  of  drawing  up  an  outline  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  drama  in  Spain  with  the  sole  purpose  of  refuting  an  imper- 
tinent and  poorly  informed  Frenchman.     If  he  undertook  a  second  task 


CONCLUSION  177 

which  must  have  proved  even  more  irksome  than  the  first,  namely,  the 
composing  of  two  regular  tragedies,  it  was  only  because  he  wished  to 
refute  his  foreign  opponent  more  completely  still  and  because  he  was 
eager  to  give  encouragement  to  his  countrymen. 

Some  will  say  that  to  be  ashamed  of  one's  country  before  foreigners 
is  a  strange  way  to  show  one's  patriotism.  We  shall  feel  free  to  reply  to 
this  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  blind  patriotism  which,  besides  being 
stupid,  is  harmful  to  the  fatherland. 

The  neo-classicists  were  consistently  enlightened  patriots,  patriots 
of  the  highest  kind.  Their  opponents  were  patriots  also,  sincere  indeed, 
but,  for  the  most  part,  narrow-minded  and  in  many  cases  quite  poorly  edu- 
cated. Excellent  as  were  their  intentions,  such  men,  because  of  their  lack 
of  application  and  the  narrow  range  of  their  vision,  would  never  have 
done  anything  of  themselves  to  pull  Spain  out  of  the  state  of  decadence 
into  which  it  had  fallen  during  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 

To  take  up  again  the  names  of  the  most  important  leaders  of  the 
reform  party,  how  can  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  faithfulness  to  Castil- 
ian  ideals  of  a  man  such  as  the  author  of  the  "Fiesta  de  Toros  en  Madrid" 
or  the  creator  of  the  Spanish  fable  literature  ?  Who  would  for  a  moment 
suspect  the  patriotism  of  Cadalso  who,  if  he  did  say  bitter  things  regarding 
certain  Spanish  foibles,  was  more  bitter  still  in  his  criticism  of  the  weak- 
nesses of  French  literature  and  who  finally  sealed  his  loyalty  with  his  blood 
before  the  English  trenches  at  Gibraltar  ? 

Menendez  y  Pelayo  in  his  "Ideas  Esteticas"  has  paid  such  an  honor- 
able tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  younger  Moratin  that  he  should  never 
require  further  rehabilitation.  As  for  Jovellanos,  what  country  can 
boast  of  a  patriotic  figure  blending  more  perfectly  zeal  for  the  welfare 
of  the  fatherland  and  keen  insight  into  its  needs  ? 

The  evident  loyalty  to  national  ideals  of  these  reformers  must  not 
make  us  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  there  was  perhaps  not  one  of  them 
who,  at  one  time  or  another,  did  not  pass  an  unnecessarily  harsh  judg- 
ment on  some  of  the  great  authors  of  the  Spanish  golden  age.  It  would 
be  also  unfair  not  to  point  out  that  their  method  of  piesenting  their 
thought  was  didactic  in  the  extreme,  that  it  made  for  narrowness  and 
emphasized  clearness  at  the  expense  of  poetic  inspiration. 

Such  weaknesses  made  the  contemporaries  of  neo-classicism  lose 
sight  of  the  true  character  of  the  movement. 

As  it  happens  so  often  in  controversies,  what  was  at  first  secondary 
in  importance  or  merely  incidental  assumed  in  the  heat  of  passion  the 
importance  which  belonged  to  the  real  issues.  Luzan  and  his  literary 
descendants  meant  first  of  all  to  deal  with  the  present  and  not  with  the 

18 


178  THE   NEO-CLASSIC   MOVEMENT  IN   SPAIN 

past.  What  had  aroused  those  men  was  the  Hterary  production  of  their 
own  day  and  generation.  If  they  used  the  name  of  Lope  or  of  Calderon 
it  was  merely  for  purposes  of  argumentation.  What  they  criticized  in 
these  writers  is  what  anybody  in  our  day  still  finds  worthy  of  criticism, 
and  in  all  cases  the  sum  total  of  blame  was  less  than  that  of  praise.  At 
any  rate  they  never  went  as  far  as  some  of  their  opponents  who,  for  the 
sake  of  argument,  were  willing  to  deny  genius  to  Cervantes  and  would 
have  put  Guillen  de  Castro  among  the  third-raters  of  the  dramatic  field 
of  the  Golden  Age. 

With  Luzan,  with  the  earlier  issues  of  the  "Diario,"  with  Cadalso 
and  with  the  younger  Moratin  it  requires  an  unusual  understanding  of 
the  extreme  sensitiveness  of  Castilian  pride  in  literary  matters  to  under- 
stand why  it  was  that  the  judgments  passed  produced  such  outbursts  of 
indignation. 

It  redounds  to  the  glory  of  the  neo-classicists  to  have  seen  that  theirs 
was  not  a  time  for  adulation.  With  the  evidence  of  decadence  patent  on 
every  hand  they  realized  that  it  was  high  time  for  men  of  judgment  and 
and  of  courage  to  stand  and  fearlessly  point  out  just  how  the  decadence 
had  come  about.  If  they  showed  undue  severity  towards  men  of  real 
genius,  who  by  the  way  were  great  enough  not  to  suffer  from  such  in- 
justice, they  also  caused  the  scales  of  ignorance  to  fall  from  the  eyes  of 
many  of  their  contemporaries.  What  injustice  they  committed  was  paid 
for  a  hundred-fold  by  the  service  they  rendered  to  Spanish  letters  in 
showing  to  how  low  an  artistic  and  rational  level  they  had  fallen. 

That,  in  spite  of  the  great  names  dragged  into  the  controversy,  the 
fight  was  really  directed  against  the  literature  of  the  day  has  been  recog- 
nized by  Menendez  .y  Pelayo,  who  makes  the  following  statement  con- 
cerning the  "Comedia  Nueva":  "Los  dramaturgos  a  quienes  en  la 
Comedia  Nueva  se  persigue  y  flagela  no  son,  de  ninguna  suerte,  los 
gloriosos  dramaturgos  del  siglo  XVII,  ni  siquiera  sus  ultimos  y  debiles 
imitadores  los  Canizares  y  Zamoras,  ni  tampoco  los  poetas  populares 
como  don  Ramon  de  la  Cruz,  sino  una  turba^ji£L:ifandalps,  un  ejambre  de 
escritores  famelicos  y  proletarios,  que  ninguna  escuela  podia  reclamar 
por  suyos  y  que  juntaban  en  torpe  mezcolanza  los  vicios  de  todas:  el 
desarreglo  novelesco  de  los  antiguos,  el  prosaismo  ramplon  y  casero  del 
siglo  XVIII,  los  absurdos  del  melodrama  frances,  las  ternezas  de  la  comedia 
iacrimatoria,  sin  que  tampoco  siguiesen  rumbo  fijo  en  cuanto  a  los  llama- 
dos  preceptos  clasicos,  puesto  que  unas  veces  los  conculcaban  y  otras 
(que  no  eran  las  menos)  hacian  gala  de  observarlos,  especialmente  el  de 
^las  unidades,  con  un  estupido  servilisimo,  que  no  hacia  ni  mejores  ni 
peores  sus  desatinadas  farsas.     Tal  era  la  escuela  que  Moratin  no  llego 


CONCLUSION  179 

a  enterrar,  porque  escribio  muy  poco  para  el  teatro,  y  porque  casi  nadie 
le  siguio :  escuela  que  en  una  forma  u  otra  se  prolongo  hasta  muy  aden- 
tro  del  reinado  de  Fernando  VII.,  y  no  se  puede  decir  definitivamente 
enterrada  con  el  mismo  Comella,  que  murio  en  1814.  Tal  era  el  teatro 
de  los  Moncines,  Valladares,  Conchas,  Zavalas  y  Zamoras,  y,  sobre  todo, 
de  aquel  infatig-able  dramaturgo  de  Vich,  que  inundo  la  patria  escena  de 
Marias  Teresas,  Catalinas,  Federicos  Segundos,  Cecilias,  Jacobas,  negros 
sensibles  y  Czares  de  Moscovia,  pudiendo  saborear  en  vida  algo  que  se 
parecia  a  la  gloria,  puesto  que  sus  informcs  abortos  ocuparon  las  tablas 
de  los  teatros  de  Italia  y  quiza  de  otras  naciones  de  Europa,  como  el 
mismo  Moratin  testifica.  Todos  estos  infelices  poetastros  eran  mucho 
menos  espaiioles  que  Moratin,  como  no  quiera  entenderse  por  espafiol  el 
ser  barbaro,  ignorante  y  desatinado."  -"*' 

What  was  true  at  the  time  of  the  "Comedia  Nueva"  had  been  true 
pretty  nearly  throughout  the  century.  Let  us  say  it  again,  the  neo-classic 
movement  was  not  a  theoretical  discussion  on  the  merits  of  Spanish  liter- 
ature in  the  past.  It  was  a  determined  attack  on  the  evils  which,  at  the 
time,  sapped  the  intellectual  life  of  Spain. 

The  fact  remains,  however,  that,  in  the  literary  field,  the  neo-classic 
movement  was  anything  but  an  unqualified  success.  When  one  has 
pointed  out  the  good  intentions  of  the  party  and  indicated  the  evils  which 
it  aimed  to  check  or  crush,  one  has  done  about  all  that  can  be  done  in  its 
favor. 

The  successes  of  Iriarte  and  of  the  younger  Moratin,  great  as  they 
were,  did  not  fulfill  the  promises  made  by  the  reforming  party  since  its 
beginnings  in  1737.  Some  good  poems  and  a  few  first-class  comedies 
could  not  satisfy  an  expectation  kept  alive  by  a  hundred  years  or  so  of 
propaganda  announcing  a  literary  revival. 

In  the  light  of  these  slim  results,  the  fuss  and  the  display  of  logic 
made  by  the  reforming  party  and  its  too  frequent  appeal  to  the  govern- 
ment for  help  against  its  enemies  make  it  appear  a  trifle  ridiculous. 
The  modern  reader  can  not  help  but  be  strongly  reminded  by  all  this  of 
the  fable  of  the  mountain  that  gave  birth  to  a  mouse. 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  this  to  accusing  the  neo-classic  movement  of  being 
the  cause  of  the  sterility  of  the  Spanish  mind  during  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Cotarelo  y  Mori  opens  the  first  chapter  of  his  book  on  "La  Tirana" 
as  follows :  "Una  de  las  causas,  y  no  de  las  menos  cficaces,  de  que  du- 
rante la  mayor  parte  del  siglo  pasado  no  se  hubiesen  compuesto  buenos 
dramas  y  comedias  fue  la  cruzada,  la  guerra  sin  cuartel  que  el  elemento 
mas  ilustrado  de  nuestros  compatriotas,  ciego  por  el  deseo  de  novedades 


23oideas  Esteticas,  v.  VI,  pp.  133-134.     2d  ed.     Madrid,  1904. 

13 


180  THE   NEO-CLASSIC    MOVEMENT    IN    SPAIN 

y  el  espiritu  irreflexivo  de  imitacion  extranjera,  hizo  al  gran  teatro  na- 
cional  del  siglo  XVII." 

Nothing  can  be  more  unfair  than  a  statement  of  this  type.  During 
the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  century  Spain  suffered  from  the  reaction 
which  naturally  followed  its  immense  artistic  output  of  the  preceding 
period.  As  Quintana  pointed  out,  the  eighteenth  century  was  infinitely 
less  poetic  than  its  predecessor.  It  is  futile  to  attempt  to  make  a  few 
men  responsible  for  a  state  of  depression  which  afflicted  the  whole  nation. 
Moreover  it  might  be  claimed  with  a  fair  degree  of  reason  that  neo- 
classicism,  which  created  nothing,  at  least  carefully  husbanded  what 
talent  there  was.  Thanks  to  its  discipline  the  few  gifted  writers  which 
the  nation  possessed  in  those  sterile  days  were  kept  from  wasting  the 
little  flame  of  their  genius  in  an  inefficient  and  quickly  extinguished  blaze. 

To  close  the  topic  of  the  relation  of  neo-classicism  to  Spanish  litera- 
ture, we  may  point  out  two  more  matters  of  importance.  The  first  is  that, 
as  the  movement  contained  certain  aristocratic  elements,  it  tended  to  take 
away  from  the  common  people  the  absolute  sway  which  they  had  held 
for  a  long  time  over  the  dramatic  field.  The  lovers  of  popular  literature 
will  not  consider  this  change  otherwise  than  in  the  Hght  of  a  calamity. 
All  we  can  say  is  that  from  the  information  which  we  have  gained  by  the 
reading  which  this  essay  has  necessitated  we  believe  sincerely  that  it  was 
a  good  thing  for  Spanish  letters  to  have  the  fate  of  plays  pass  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  "Polacos"  and  the  "Chorizos"  to  that  of  the  more  intel- 
lectual middle  class. 

The  second  point,  at  which  we  shall  merely  hint,  is  that  neo-classicism 
drove  out  of  the  field  of  literature  a  mass  of  amorphous  material  which 
had  remained  in  it  through  the  agency  of  the  degenerated  autos  and 
"comedias."  We  refer  to  the  vast  amount  of  indigestible  lore  of  medieval 
origin  which,  after  having  been  driven  out  of  polite  letters  by  Cervantes, 
had  taken  refuge  in  the  decadent  drama.  In  this  connection,  neo-classic- 
ism may  well  be  considered  a  last  and  much  belated  stage  of  the  renais- 
sance. 

•But  so  far  we  have  been  dealing  only  with  the  negative  results  of  the 
reform.  A  controversy  carried  on  with  vigor  and  sincerity  by  two  parties 
can  not  fail  to  be  productive  of  certain  positive  results.  It  is  along  lines 
other  than  those  of  creative  literature  that  the  positive  services  of  the 
neo-classic  quarrel  become  apparent. 

Prominent  among  these  positive  results  is  the  renewal  of  interest  on 
the  part  of  Spaniards  in  the  literary  history  of  their  country.  To  gather 
arguments  with  which  to  strengthen  their  cause  and  to  show  to  foreign 
critics  how  poorly  founded  their  opinions  were,  the  neo-classicists  ran- 


CONCLUSION  181 

sacked  the  dramatic  and  poetical  archives  of  the  nation.  With  the  very 
same  purposes  in  mind  their  antagonists  studied  the  field  of  Spanish  letters 
with  a  zeal  proportionate  to  the  keenness  of  the  controversy. 

We  saw  that  Luzan  had  preceded  his  technical  discussion  of  poets  by 
outlining  the  development  of  Spanish  poetry.  Soon  after,  Montiano  gath- 
ered all  of  his  knowledge  of  the  drama  in  Spain  into  an  incomplete  yet 
useful  compendium  of  the  history  of  the  genre.  Velazquez,  with  equally 
good  intentions  but  less  good  fortune,  outlined  the  history  of  Castilian 
lyric  poetry. 

These  various  attempts  were  not  scholarly  if  we  compare  them  with 
the  results  of  modern  scholarship.  They  were  very  praiseworthy  never- 
theless since  their  authors  were  pioneers  in  their  respective  fields.  They 
rendered  accessible  to  all  Spaniards  what  heretofore  was  to  be  obtained 
only  from  such  rather  inaccessible  sources  as  the  Latin  works  of  Nicolas 
Antonio.  Furthermore,  these  works  came  at  the  time  when  they  were 
most  needed.  Montiano's  "Discursos"  and  Velazquez's  study  on  lyric 
poetry  became  known  abroad  just  at  the  moment  when  the  curiosity  of 
foreigners  concerning  Spanish  topics  was  beginning  to  awaken.  The 
translations  of  these  works  which  came  into  the  hands  of  Lessing  and  of 
Dietze  may  well  be  credited  with  having  started  among  Germans  the 
tradition  of  research  in  the  Spanish  field  which  we  now  associate  with  the 
names  of  Wolf,  Schack  and  so  many  other  noted  scholars. 

At  home,  the  labors  of  these  Spanish  pioneers  proved  also  very  fruit- 
ful. This  is  shown  by  the  long  list  of  works  on  literary  history,  of  anthol- 
ogies, of  collections  of  "comedias"  which,  with  or  without  prologues,  fill 
the  literary  annals  of  Spain  during  the  second  half  of  the  century.  Some, 
like  the  "Parnasso  Espaiiol"  of  Sedano,  the  "Cajon  de  Sastre"  of  Nipho 
or  the  "Theatro  Hespafiol"  of  Garcia  de  la  Huerta  contained  glaring  de- 
fects, but  they  all  led  to  Moratin's  scholarly  and  elegant  "Origines  del 
Teatro  Espafiol"  and  form  a  part  of  the  long  tradition  which  was  to  cul- 
minate in  the  publication  of  the  "Biblioteca  de  Autores  Espanoles." 

In  the  field  of  historical  research,  then,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  a  place 
of  great  importance  to  the  neo-classic  movement.  Through  the  intel- 
lectual activity  which  it  stimulated  in  one  way  or  in  another,  it  brought 
about  an  awakening  of  interest  in  precise  scholarship  which  resulted  in 
the  shedding  of  much  light  on  the  past  glories  of  Spanish  literature. 
Thanks  to  the  neo-classic  movement,  the  Spaniards  were  at  last  able  to 
see  with  precision  the  real  value  of  their  art.  and  foreigners,  after  a  century 
of  disdainful  indifference,  began  to  realize  the  true  greatness  of  their 
neighbor. 


182  THE'NEO-CLASSIC    movement    in    SPAIN 

In  another  way  still  neo-classicism  was  productive  of  great  results. 
In  Spain  as  in  France,  neo-classicism,  being  an  application  of  the  ration- 
alistic method,  tended  to  prepare  the  way  for  what  is  termed  "I'csprit  philo- 
sophique."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  already  pointed  out  that  neo- 
classic  criticism  was  eagerly  adopted  by  certain  Spaniards  mainly  because 
it  happened  to  be  an  unobjectionable  form  of  the  thought  which  directed 
the  activities  of  the  encyclopedists  and  the  physiocrats.  A  man  of  the 
stamp  of  Clavijo  y  Fajardo  harped  on  the  unities  and  on  decorum  mainly 
because  it  was  a  harmless  way  of  playing  with  the  goddess  Reason. 

In  studying  the  journalistic  literature  of  the  last  third  of  the  century, 
one  becomes  aware  of  a  most  interesting  evolution.*  At  first  writers  the- 
orize "ad  nauseam"  on  imitation,  decorum  and  the  sacro-sanct  topic  of  the 
iinities.  Gradually  they  pass  from  such  abstract  topics  to  discussing  rather 
gingerly  possible  modifications  in  the  administration  of  Church  and  State. 
Finally,  reason  having  won  enough  of  a  constituency  to  ensure  the  per- 
sonal safety  of  the  writers,  we  come  upon  violent,  then  upon  vitupera- 
tive attacks  against  the  friars,  against  the  principles  of  government  then 
in  vogue  and  against  the  theory  of  property. 

These  attacks  are  fairly  reeking  with  the  destructive  spirit  of  Vol- 
taire and  the  lachrymose  individualism  of  Rousseau.  In  fact,  we  cannot 
escape  the  conclusion  that  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  found  their  way  into 
Spain  mainly  because  the  cult  of  Reason  applied  to  literary  criticism  had 
paved  the  way  for  them. 

Whether  the  result  was  as  good  or  bad  as  contemporary  factions 
believed,  is  stih  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  No  one,  however,  will  deny  that 
the  spirit  of  free  discussion  which  was  thus  promoted  was  infinitely  better 
for  the  intellectual  and  economic  development  of  Spain  than  the  state  of 
intellectual  stagnation  which  reigned  all  but  supreme  in  the  earlier  years 
of  the  century.  Little  did  the  first  exponents  of  neo-classicism  realize  the 
ultimate  results  of  their  efforts  when  to  bad  taste  in  literature  they  op- 
posed the  dogma  of  Aristotle. 

To  summarize  our  conclusions :  neo-classicism  with  all  its  petty  fea- 
tures and  comparative  sterility  marked  a  period  of  retrospection  and  in- 
trospection which  proved  deeply  beneficial  to  Spanish  thought  even  though 
its  good  effects  were  subsequently  diminished  by  national  calamities. 

When  the  air  had  cleared,  after  this  long  and  stubborn  controversy, 
Spaniards  discovered  that  they  had  attained  to  a  degree  of  intellectual 
maturity  unequaled  since  the  Golden  Age  and  that  there  was  in  the  na- 
tional thought  a  European  orientation  which  at  last  enabled  them  to  join 
in  the  great  movements  of  modern  civilization. 


CONCLUSION  183 

NOTES  TO  CONCLUSION. 

P.  182.  El  Censor.  Obra  Periodica.  Madrid,  1781.  In  the  preface  the 
"Censor"  discusses  his  own  character  and  temperament.  He  is  quick  tempered, 
always  on  the  "qui  vive"  for  novelties  and  a  firm  believer  in  the  almighty  power 
of  Reason.  V.  I,  p.  19:  "En  la  mas  tierna  edad  me  ofendia  todo,  todo  me  daba 
en  rostro ;  tenia  ya  el  atrevimiento  de  oponerme  a  los  hombres  hechos  y  las  canas 
mas  respetables  no  eran  poderosas  para  contenerme. 

"Apenas  sabia  leer  corrientemente,  cuando  haviendome  caido  en  las  manos  la 
Historia  de  las  Guerras  Civiles  de  Francia,  que  escribio  Enrico  Davila,  me  acuerdo 
que  me  costo  muy  buenas  bofetadas  al  sostener  contra  el  dictamen  de  un  tio  muy 
rico,  y  a  quien  por  tanto  era  precise  creer,  que  el  Duque  de  Guisa  y  el  Cardenal  de 
Lorena  habian  sido  unos  grandes  picaros  .  .  .  y  mas  que  las  bofetadas  sentia  yo  la 
injusticia  que  en  mi  dictamen  hacia  mi  tio  a  aquellos  seiiores  que  no  eran  de  la 
Liga.  .  .  ." 

Then  again,  p.  20:  "era  el  escandalo  de  mis  condiscipulos  el  atrevimiento  con 
que  me  oian  decir  que  una  cosa  que  habia  dicho  Aristoteles  era  un  disparate.  Yo 
mismo  me  formaba  mis  opiniones,  yo  solo  era  todo  mi  partido.  En  fin  andando 
el  tiempo  llego  la  cosa  a  tal  punto  que  vine  a  ser  un  martir  de  mi  razon.  Seme- 
jante  a  una  vista  delicada  que  ofende  qualquiera  exceso  de  luz,  todo  lo  que  se 
aparta  un  poco  de  la  razon  me  lastima,  el  mas  pequeiio  extravio  de  la  regla  y  del 
orden  me  causa  un  tedio  mortal.  .  .  .  No  puedo  asistir  a  una  comedia  sin  riesgo  de 
que  se  me  forme  una  apostema  por  lo  que  callo.  .  .  .  Ninguna  autoridad  humana, 
ni  la  costumbre  mas  antigua,  ni  la  moda  mas  general,  es  capaz  de  pcrsuadirme  lo 
que  mi  razon  repugna  ...  en  todas  partes  hallo  cosas  que  me  lastiman.  En  las 
tertulias,  en  los  paseos,  en  los  teatros,  hasta  en  los  templos  misnios  hallo  en  que 
tiopezar." 

The  influence  of  Rousseau  is  noticeable  in  v.  I,  Disc.  Ill,  p.  56:  "Historia 
tragica  de  un  jornalero  y  reflexiones  sobre  la  suerte  de  estos  infelices."  Also 
Discursos  IX  and  X  on  the  "Idle  Rich"  and  on  "Idleness."  P.  133 :  What  right 
does  Calixto  have  to  hold  so  much  property?  "iNo  los  ha  adquirido  en  algiin 
tiempo  por  su  trabajo,  por  su  industria,  por  su  merito  .  .  .  ?  Pues  Calixto  que 
en  este  caso  seria  solamente  inutil  ahora  me  temo  mucho  que  no  sea  injusto  po- 
seedor  de  esos  fondos.  Todas  las  cosas  que  la  naturaleza  ha  criado  fuera  de 
nosotros,  las  ha  hecho  comunes  a  todos  los  hombres." 

In  the  next  article  (X)  care  is  taken  to  explain  that  one  rendering  unusual 
service  to  the  community  may  hold  more  property  than  the  average  person,  p.  157 : 
"Seria  menester  en  fin  ser  tan  impio  como  Baile  para  creer  que  la  perfeccion 
Christiana  es  opuesta  al  florecimiento  de  una  Repiiblica." 

Disc.  XX.  To  prove  that  all  the  misfortunes  of  Spain  come  from  the  fact 
that  the  peasants  do  not  own  their  land.  This  was  preceded  by  two  letters  in  Galli- 
cized Spanish  (Disc.  XIV)  intended,  of  course,  to  poke  fun  at  those  who  did  not 
preserve  the  purity  of  their  mother  tongue.  Disc.  XVII  is  a  description  of  a 
"parfait  honnete  homme." 

From  these  extracts  it  may  be  seen  that  the  "Censor"  expresses  opinions 
either  advanced  or  foreign  on  all  kinds  of  subjects  from  literary  criticism  to  polit- 
ical economy. 


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